


Saturday

by Ultra



Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - The Breakfast Club Fusion, Breakfast Club References, Confessions, Detention, Drinking & Talking, Drinking Games, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Family Issues, Friendship/Love, Gen, Getting to Know Each Other, Teen Angst, Teen Romance, Teenage Rebellion, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-28
Updated: 2010-07-28
Packaged: 2019-08-23 07:09:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 30,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16614278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/pseuds/Ultra
Summary: Five students are thrown together for Saturday detention. They are a geek, an idiot, a criminal, an outcast, and a jackass. Correct? That's the way they saw each other at seven o'clock this morning. They were brainwashed...





	1. Arrival

**Dear Mr Clemmons, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was that we did wrong. What we did was wrong, but we think you’re crazy to make us write this essay telling you who we think we are. What do you care? You see us as you want to see us, in the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions. You see us as a geek, an idiot, a criminal, an outcast and a jackass. Correct? That's the way we saw each other at seven o'clock this morning. We were brainwashed.**

_Saturday March 26, 2005. Neptune high school, Neptune, California_

“Are you going to talk at all?” the blonde asked as her father pulled the car up outside Neptune High.

“What do you want me to say, Veronica?” said her father, Keith Mars, once-respected Sheriff of the town. “This is the fifth Saturday detention you’ve had in two months. I just... I’m out of smart lines now, so I say nothing.” He shrugged, completely at a loss as to how to deal with his daughter anymore.

“Fine,” she said as she moved to get out of the car, pushing the door closed with a thud. “For what it’s worth, Dad, I’m sorry... that I embarrass you,” she said through the open window, before she turned and walked away.

“I know, sweetheart.” Keith sighed to himself as he watched her walk away, thinking how much his wife leaving had affected Veronica’s behaviour.

He kept hoping one day she’d calm down, be better behaved, but as yet it hadn’t happened. Putting the car in gear, he moved to drive away, braking fast when he almost hit a young man who had cut in front of his car.

“Dude!” the blonde surfer exclaimed, putting a hand on the hood as if he could stop it running him down that easily. “Easy, Sheriff, people are walking here!” he told him loudly through the windshield as he went by.

“Dick Casablancas,” said Keith to himself, rolling his eyes at the kids behaviour, before he finally drove away.

One car was almost immediately replaced by another.

“This is the first and last time we do this, Cindy,” her mother snapped as she pulled the car up out front of the school building. “First and last.”

“I get it, Mom,” she replied, pushing her blue-streaked brunette hair behind her ear and sighing. “I understand.”

“I expect you to get plenty of studying done in there,” her mother went on to say, as little brother Ryan grinned and stuck out his tongue at her.

“Mom, you know I can’t,” Cindy protested. “We’re not allowed to do anything, we just have to sit there.”

“Well, I want you to find a way to do something constructive,” said Mrs Mackenzie determinedly, as her daughter turned and got out of the car.

She headed up the stairs to the main doors, just as a motorcycle pulled up in the parking lot.

The rider switched off his bike, removed his helmet and dismounted, looking up at the school building with distaste. Weevil, as he was known throughout the school, could use not being here today, but it wasn’t worth the hassle from his grandma if he didn’t show up.

Turning on the school steps, Weevil shot a look of disgust at the car that came racing into the lot behind him. Aaron Echolls, famous movie star, was dropping off his son for detention too, and was extremely unhappy at the prospect. Wishing to escape Daddy’s wrath as soon as possible, Logan made to get out of the car immediately and without a word, only to be grabbed by his jacket and pulled back into his seat with a force.

“Now I’m going to say this once, and once only, Logan,” he said seriously. “Look at me!” he snapped when the boy did not at first. “If I ever find out you skipped class again, to go surfing or any other dumbass thing, detention will be the least of your problems,” he said, with a steely tone. “Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir,” the usually confident boy muttered, glad to finally be allowed to get out of the car and walk away.

As he went up the steps and into the school, his fearful look melted into his usual cocky demeanour, the outside that he showed the world whilst the inside shook still in terror. It wouldn’t do to have the reputation of a scared little boy. He was Logan Echolls, tough and sharp-witted and almost guaranteed to be the most popular person in the library for detention today, surrounded by misfits who didn’t understand that maybe it just wasn’t quite as cool as they thought to be him.

Walking into the room he glanced at the already assembled group. At the back was Dick Casablancas, a guy he knew from the fact they ran with the same crowd, the 09er set, and yet they weren’t exactly best buds or anything, on account of Dick just being so dumb it was almost unbearable. A couple of rows in front of him was some computer chick with dark hair that had blue streaks running through it. Logan honestly couldn’t recall her name and didn’t care to.

On the other side, in back sat Weevil, the school’s rebel without a clue as far as Logan was concerned, and a few rows in front of him was Veronica Mars, someone he had known quite well when they were kids, but had easily drifted apart as status became important and their lives went in very different directions during high school. Now Logan had a choice, which of the four quadrants of the room did he want to assign himself too? Who did he want for a playmate today?

“Mr Echolls, sit down!” he was told sternly as Principal Clemmons appeared behind him, looking severe.

“Yes, sir,” he said in overly chirpy fashion and with a mock-salute to match that made Veronica roll her eyes, something he noticed as he sat himself down two seats along from her on the same row.

“Well, here we are!” the Principal said to the assembled group, a look of distaste on is features as he glanced around at the strange ensemble of kids he found in his presence today. “I want to congratulate you for being on time, at least,” he said as he looked down at his watch, only to find that when he looked back up, Mac had her hand tentatively raised.

“Excuse me, sir?” she said carefully. “Um, I was just thinking... I know this is detention, but I don't think I really belong in here,” she said, feeling a little stupid now and wishing she’d never started.

The Principal realised she knew she’d made a mistake in attracting so much attention to herself and so ignored her comment and continued.

“It is now seven-oh-six,” he informed the group. “You have exactly eight hours and fifty-four minutes to think about why you’re here. To ponder the error of your ways,” he said, as he removed a pencil from the hand of Logan who was starting to scribble on the desk already, “and you may not talk,” he continued, as he walked past Weevil, giving him the evil eye. “You will not move from these seats,” he told Dick and Mac, “and you, young lady,” he snapped, pointing in Veronica’s direction with the confiscated pencil, “you will not sleep,” he informed her, as she was already resting her head on her arms as if to do so.

The students looked vaguely at each other, and around the room, anywhere but at Mr Clemmons, even as he continued to speak to them.

“Alright, we’re gonna try something a little different today,” he said, picking up a pile of paper from the front of the room and passing it out. “We are going to write an essay of no less than a thousand words, describing to me who you think you are,” he explained, ensuring everyone had their paper and understood the assignment he was giving them. “And when I say essay, I mean essay,” he repeated, apparently for the benefit of Dick, since that was who he was focused on right now. “I do not mean a single word repeated a thousand times. Is that clear, Mr Casablancas?”

“Dude!” he exclaimed. “Like I’d do that... again.” He smirked.

“Okay.” Mr Clemmons moved to walk away, before turning back to say one more thing. “My office is right across that hall,” he informed them. “Any monkey business is ill-advised. Any questions?” he asked, turning away before anyone actually had a chance to speak.

“Yeah, I’ve got a question,” Logan called behind him, stopping the Principal dead in his tracks. “Are you going for a Lex Luthor thing back here,” he gestured to the back of the man’s head, “or is it time to reapply the Rogaine?”

“I'll give you the answer to that question, Mr. Echolls, next Saturday,” he answered sternly, knowing that even if he didn’t show it, that hurt Logan Echolls on the inside, to know he was losing another Saturday of fun. “Don’t mess with the bull, young man, you’ll get the horns,” he told him, glancing around at the five blank expressions looking back at him before he finally left the room, to the sound of a collective and bored sigh.

It was going to be a long day.


	2. Screwing Around

Detention was not a place that any high schooler wanted to spend their Saturday, but the experience is made all the more unappealing when you’re stuck in a room with four people who are so far removed from your circle of friends its untrue.

Logan Echolls wasn’t used to this captivity. He was a smart ass from way back, but he usually avoided punishment due to Mommy and Daddy being the big shots they were in the movie business. They were one of the richest and most famous families in Neptune, which had both its upsides and its downs too. Still, poor little rich boy was a look he could do without.

Dick Casablancas, now that guy had the rich kid deal wired. Of course, he thought his money and passably good looks made him cool, where as someone like Veronica Mars just found him pathetic, shallow, and entirely stupid. In a lot of ways he was less offensive than the other 09er boys, like Logan, for example, who had a jackass answer to everything said to him - that kind of drove her nuts, but probably only because it felt like he was stepping on her toes. She was supposed to be the quick-witted one with the sharp tongue, and detention was her place, not his.

Cindy Mackenzie looked sideways at Logan and Veronica, wondering if their sitting together was relevant. Could be something was going on between them. Back in the day they used to be friends, as far as she remembered. Not that either of them really liked her, in fact they probably wouldn’t know her name. Geeks hung out with other geeks, and that meant Mac became the misfit in a room of people who usually all held that title - at least they had one place they belonged, and it was here.

Weevil probably lived here, or so Mac figured, after all he was head of the PCHers, and that was a biker gang which automatically meant danger, violence, and probably drugs and such too. Honestly, Mac had no wish to make eye contact with such a person, or anyone else in the room for that matter. Instead she tried to concentrate on the paper in front of her and start on her essay. That task would’ve been much easier if she couldn’t hear Dick Casablancas muttering to himself behind her.

“Who am I?” he asked himself. “I’m Dick, but who am I?” he went on, making her smile to herself just a little.

A giggle escaped her lips then, all of its own accord, unfortunately attracting some attention she could do without.

“Hey, Dick,” Logan called to the back of them room though his eyes remained locked on Mac and she knew it. “Why don’t you go close the door, and we’ll get Ugly Betty impregnated,” he joked, though neither of the girls found it particularly funny.

“Leave her alone, Logan,” Veronica told him, throwing her balled up piece of paper at his head.

Unfortunately, he moved at the wrong moment, deflecting it off his head and sending it back two rows onto Weevil’s desk.

“You throw like a girl,” Logan told her as he turned to look her way.

“Well, that’s one better than you.” She smiled sweetly before turning away and resting her head on her folded arms once again, feigning sleep.

“Ignore him, V.” Weevil agreed with her system it seemed. “He ain’t worth it,” he said, glaring at the rich kid.

“What’s up, Weev?” Logan asked as he got up from his seat and sauntered over, leaning on the other boy’s desk. “Am I stepping on your toes? Is today the day you make your move with Ronnie? Are we spoiling the mood?” he teased him, knowing the two certainly spent enough time in detention together, it wasn’t totally out there for them to be closer than close.

“I lose my temper, man, you’re dead,” the biker warned him through gritted teeth, though so far not completely losing his cool.

“Y’know you’re sexy when you’re angry,” he said, faked blowing a kiss before quickly turning away, knowing he was dancing with the devil and bound to get his ass kicked if he didn’t watch it.

“Weevil, be cool,” Veronica urged him. “Like you said, he’s not worth it, just ignore him,” she said, glaring at Logan then as he moved passed her desk and hopped up to sit on the railings close to her.

“Like you could ignore me, V,” he told her, tipping her a wink as he glanced towards the library door and back. “What do you say we close that door? We can’t have any kind of party with Clemmons keeping his beady little eye on us.”

“The door is supposed to stay open,” Mac pointed out. “Why can’t you just leave it, write your paper?” she said, feeling a little braver now Logan was further away, and because she knew Weevil and Veronica were at least on the same side as her, wanting Logan to shut up, sit down, and leave everyone alone.

“Did somebody say something?” Logan faked listening out for a sound then shook his he’d suddenly. “Guess not.” He shrugged, turning away.

“You’re such an ass, Logan,” he was swiftly told by Veronica, and that stopped him dead in his tracks as he swivelled on the spot and looked down on her. “Seriously, what point are you trying to make?” she asked with fake-curiosity. “Trying to prove you’re all clever and big? Nobody cares.”

“Well, Ronnie,” he said, leaning on the front of her desk and getting right in her face, “you might not care if I’m clever, but from what I hear... Let’s just say, there’s a lot of talk in the locker room,” he told her, quirking an eyebrow and watching as her expression shifted, her gaze turned steely a moment before she recovered in record time.

“Yeah, y’know, girls talk in the locker room too,” she told him, not even flinching. “Funny you don’t come up much... at least, that’s what I heard.” She smirked at her victory, watching as Logan turned pale and backed up a step.

“Hey, is that true?” Weevil wanted to know, unable to keep from laughing at what was either a highly amusing truth or at the very least a killer comeback on the part of Veronica Mars.

“Hey, I’m just repeating what I was told.” The blonde shrugged innocently, though the look on her face was far from angelic in fact as Mac glanced across at the other girl, she wouldnt’ve been surprised to see devil horns and tail appearing from her head and butt.

“When did you get to be such a bitch, Veronica?” Logan asked her coldly as she met his gaze.

“You know when,” she replied, tone just as icy as a look passed between them that couldn’t mean anything to anyone else.

“Dude, can we not talk so loud?” came a request from the back of the room, as Dick yelled substantially louder than anyone else had been speaking up to now. “I so don’t want to be stuck here another Saturday if we get caught screwing around,” he told the other four, who looked surprised he’d spoken to them at all. “I got better things to do with my time.”

“Really?” asked Logan, finally tearing his eyes away from Veronica and wheeling around to face the surfer dude in back of the room. “What? Are you trying to letter in nailing cheerleaders and throwing keggers?” he mocked the guy who was really doing no harm to anyone, in an over-done surfer-dude voice.

“Like you’re so smart,” Dick shot back at him. “Besides, you only get girls to come over to your house to meet your dad,” he snapped. “You wish you could be as cool as me, dude.”

Logan bristled at the insult, and Mac watched as his face hardened at the same time Dick’s did so. It was like a ping pong match, her eyes firing back and forth between the two boys as they argued.

“Sure, Dick,” said Logan after a long pause. “I wanna be just like you. I figure all I need is some peroxide and a lobotomy.”

“Hey!” Mac was stunned to realise she was the one who had yelled then, catching the attention of the whole room.

She hadn’t meant to say a word, just be a casual observer to a pathetic battle of wits, but it seemed wrong for Logan to say such a horrible thing to Dick. Not that she knew the blond all that well, she could only recall speaking to him to say ‘excuse me’ one time, and once she’d leant him a pencil in class, just to be friendly. Still, no-one deserved to be treated the way Logan Echolls so often treated people, especially when the attack was unprovoked.

“Hey, you idiots keep your damn voices down!” Weevil interjected, arms folded over his chest as he shot the rest of the group a menacing stare. “Clemmons comes back in here and busts you guys for being jerks, that’s another Saturday I gotta spend with you. It ain’t my idea of a good time, comprendez?”

When Logan’s attention turned to Weevil, nobody was entirely sure what was coming next. Yelling perhaps, a fist-fight maybe, at the very least some smart-alecky comment from Neptune’s biggest jackass. Veronica was all ready to jump into the mix with Mr Sparky at the ready should a punch get thrown. Weevil was a tough guy, Logan was a real jerk, but she could use the pair of them not tearing lumps out of each other. She had a few reasons why, though right now she’d prefer not to share any with the group, of course.

Logan surprised everyone when he stared Weevil down, smiling as if he’d just had a Eureka moment of some kind.

“Are you having a seizure?” Veronica asked him as he glanced her way, only to be shushed by the guy in question, who then proceeded to move quickly towards the door.

“What’s he doing?” asked Mac, mostly rhetorically, though it was Weevil who answered her anyway.

“Being an idiot; the usual.” He rolled his eyes as the four of them watched Logan reach to the top of the door.

“Logan, don’t,” urged Veronica, even though she was almost entirely certain he wouldn’t listen to a word she said.

Back when they were friends he barely paid attention to any warning she gave him. Since they’d become enemies, or the equivalent of at least, she didn’t stand a chance of being heard.

“Dude, we are so gonna get busted!” declared Dick as Logan completed his task which seemed to involve the removal of a screw from the door closing device.

The library door swung shut with a thump and Logan came scurrying back to the seating area with the biggest grin on his face.

“I am a genius!” he declared, as Veronica rolled her eyes.

“No, you’re an ass, Logan!” she told him. “Put the damn screw back,” she practically demanded, not that it made a difference.

The young Mr Echolls retook his seat, leaning back with his crossed feet up on the table and his hands behind his head. Veronica swiftly lunged his way, meaning to take the screw from his clasped hands, but he had seen that manoeuvre coming from a mile away.

As she reached for him, Logan moved, sending her sprawling across the table before him. Fast as lightening his hand disappeared down the back of her sweatshirt and reappeared empty just as the library door swung open and Mr Clemmons stormed in.

Veronica knew she had no choice but to keep her silence or make this situation worse for everybody.


	3. An Imperfect World

Five students sat rigidly in the library, trying to look casual but failing miserably as Principal Clemmons stormed in through the recently closed door.

“Okay, wise guys... and girls,” he said smartly as he glanced around the room. “Who closed that door?”

Nobody answered, all sure that whatever they said could only make the situation worse than it already was. Veronica shifted in her seat, coughing too much as she felt the cold metal of the small screw move down her back, knowing that if it dropped out into the chair it would make a sound, however small.

“What’s the matter, Veronica?” Mr Clemmons asked of her coughing fit, but she waved it away as nothing.

“Just a little dry, sir,” she assured him, and though he was sure there was far more to it than that he let it go.

“Eli Navarro,” he called to Weevil who was feigning sleep two rows back, his eyes snapping open at the sound of his full name. “Who closed that door?”

“I dunno, man.” He shrugged his broad shoulders. “We were all sat here and it just closed.”

“Maybe a screw fell out,” suggested Logan, trying in vain to keep the smirk off his face and only just managing it.

Mac squirmed in her seat as Clemmons gaze came her way next.

“It just closed,” she said softly, hoping that saying so and then averting her eyes would keep the Principal from grilling her at all - she wasn’t sure how well she could lie to a teacher’s face, she’d never really tried til now.

“Okay, one more time before I start to lose my temper,” said Mr Clemmons, looking sternly across at Dick. “Mr Casablancas, the door, who closed it?” he asked plainly.

Dick’s huge response was simply to shrug his shoulders and look blank before his chin dropped back down onto his crossed arms on the desk. No effort had to be made to look so dumb and he got out of maybe saying the wrong thing by saying nothing at all.

Logan and Veronica were both similarly amused by Dick’s non-verbal response and the tiny sound of a mini-laugh from one of them or the other, Clemmons couldn’t quite tell which, caught everyone’s attention.

“One of you has the screw from that door,” he told the pair, not at all a question, just a statement of the fact he was ninety-nine percent sure was true, as he pointed to the place he spoke of. “If you hand it over now, I might not put you both back in here next Saturday.”

“To be fair, sir, I’m already here next Saturday, so...” said Veronica honestly, though apparently Mr Clemmons was not impressed by her saying anything at all. “I’m just saying.” She sighed, hands up in mock surrender, before she looked away from his glare.

She could do without all this, of course she could, but lately it was just too easy for Veronica to get into trouble. It wasn’t attention seeking, she didn’t pull pranks for the sake of a joke or to get detention just so she could be away from her home. Spending time with her Dad was actually fun when she got the chance, but trouble just seemed to follow her around lately.

Logan watched the blonde for a long moment, wondering what had happened to her. Of course, he knew in part, but still there were times when he couldn’t quite figure out how they’d ended up such different people. A long time ago they used to be friends, good friends, but times had changed so much since then.

“Logan!” the Principal snapped at him, getting his attention in an instant. “Where is the screw?” he asked again, pointlessly and they both knew it, but Mr Clemmons had to at least look as if he was trying to have some authority.

“What screw?” asked Logan with a smirk on his lips, knowing the trouble he was going to get into but just not caring right now.

Hell, it was worth playing this game if only to outdo Veronica. Here she had some authority, lately she’d become the one person who was always in detention, be it lunch times, after school, or Saturdays like today. Then there was Weevil who had one of the toughest reps at Neptune High. Logan liked to be the top rank at everything he did, and if that meant getting into some trouble, why the hell should he care? There was nothing he couldn’t get out of, nothing his money, looks, charm, and status couldn’t save him from most of the time...

“Young man, you are trying my patience!” Mr Clemmons told him angrily, trying in desperation to keep his temper in check and failing badly to do so as this went on.

“Seriously, sir,” said Veronica, getting his attention. “Why would anyone want to steal a screw from a door?” she asked, all innocence as the Principal stared down at her.

“I don’t believe I was speaking to you, Miss Mars,” he snapped, turning on his heel and heading to the door that was firmly shut.

Opening it up, Mr Clemmons attempted to keep in open by force alone. When that didn’t work he looked around for something to wedge the door with or to prop it open with. He grabbed a nearby chair and forced it against the open door.

“Like that’s ever gonna work.” Weevil chuckled, shaking his head at the teachers antics.

All the kids watched as Mr Clemmons let go of the chair, the door swinging shut just as easily as if nothing had been there at all and sending the seat flying to into the hallway. They all stifled laughter, even Mac who still had enough sense to be afraid of what might happen to her if she crossed the Principal.

“Dick Casablancas, here, now!” he yelled down the room, loud enough to be heard at the back though the boy he called for seemed loathe to move.

Sauntering down between the rows of chairs at his own speed, Weevil considered tripping the kid up for fun, but pulled his foot out of the way after a moments thought. He could use not having any more trouble today than he already got. So long as everybody else stayed out of his face he was happy enough to stay out of theirs.

“So now we’re allowed to get up?” said Logan smartly. “So much for the rules.” He shook his head, tut-tutting the Principals bending of his own laws.

Mr Clemmons paid no mind to his other four students as he and Dick lifted a magazine rack into the doorway in an attempt to prop the door open. It became immediately apparent that whilst the furniture may hold the weight of the door, it also completely blocked the exit.

“Hey, Weevil?” Veronica called over her shoulder though loud enough for Mr Clemmons to hear. “What do you think happens to Principal’s who violate fire codes and endanger the lives of children at such an important point in their career?” she asked her sometimes-friend who tried not to smile as he feigned deep thought and then replied to her question.

“Beats me, V,” he told her, “but I gotta think it can’t be good.”

Within seconds, Mr Clemmons was calling Dick an incompetent fool, blaming him for the problems caused and yelling for the magazine rack to be replaced where it came from. Hurrying back to his seat on the Principal’s command, Dick was muttering under his breath about how dumb this whole situation was.

“Well, if anyone knows about dumb,” said Logan as the surfer passed by, but the insult was forgotten in a moment as the five were faced once again by one very angry Principal.

“Veronica Mars,” he all but boomed, though the girl in question remained unfazed.

“Present,” she answered sweetly, as if replying to roll call, in spite of the fact she knew this situation was far from that.

“You will tell me where the screw from the door is, unless you want me to add another Saturday to your ever growing list of days for detention,” he said seriously, glaring at her still.

The blonde held his gaze, taking a deep breath in and out, her expression as stony as Mr Clemmons own. She hated that she’d become this person sometimes. She used to be a good girl with good grades and a lot of friends. Things had changed so much and the only way she found to deal with it was to hit back at the world that would hurt her. She knew that almost always led to her hurting herself as much as anyone else, but she just couldn’t help it. Her mouth ran away with her, even when she tried to reign it in, and here she was again about to land herself in so much trouble, and still she could not stop.

“Why do you care so much about a screw?” she asked a length with an uncaring shrug of her shoulder as she held up her hand in front of her own face in order to check the state of her nails. “Seems to me the only people who care about a screw would be those who never get a good one,” she said with just a hint of a smirk at her lips.

“That’s it, another Saturday,” Mr Clemmons ground out, before turning on his heel and making to leave the room.

“Like I care,” she threw behind him, making him turn back, face almost turning puce as he got more angry still.

Logan looked across at Veronica with wide eyes as she seemed unmoved and in no particular mood to give in even as the Principal threw another Saturday detention her way.

“And one more for good measure,” he told her, as she sighed heavily.

“Well, I’m free the Saturday after that too,” she offered, “but beyond that, I’m gonna have to check my calendar.”

“We can keep doing this all day, Veronica, believe you me,” he told her sternly. “I would expect more from the former-Sheriff’s daughter, but then I guess he didn’t exactly set you a good example.”

At that Veronica lost her cool, bracing her hands on the table and making to stand up. Weevil saw it coming and had leant across his own desk already, his hand at the blonde’s shoulder keeping her down.

“Relax, V,” he told her softly. “It ain’t worth it,” he assured her.

Veronica bit her tongue so hard it almost bled with the force but she went along with what her friend told her, letting herself relax back into the chair. Logan watched her with astonishment, glancing back at Weevil then over at Mr Clemmons. Mac and Dick were staring too, wondering how this would play out from now on. It stood to reason that too many short-tempered, quick-witted people in one room would lead to badness, but they’d had no idea things could get this close to out of hand so fast.

“Good sense from Mr Navarro?” the Principal said then, looking almost amused by that. “Will wonders never cease?”

There was a muttering in Spanish behind Logan then and though he wasn’t entirely familiar with the language, he did know that what he said was not at all complimentary. It was likely Mr Clemmons heard it and knew that too, though his wrath was not vented on Weevil as Logan chose to snigger at the remark made.

“Apparently Mr Echolls wishes to join you next Saturday, Veronica,” he said, staring hard at the young man in question. “Perhaps the Saturday after that too?” he suggested.

“Hmm, not so sure I want to commit myself to one girl for that long,” he said thoughtfully, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back some until the chair tilted onto its back legs. “Tell me, sir, how long have you been in the matchmaking game?”

“You’re not funny, Logan,” the Principal assured him with a shake of his head. “And you’re not clever.”

“Actually, I’m pretty sure I am, Van,” he said just as seriously now as he brought the chair back down to the ground with a thump.

The staring went on for what felt like an eternity to Mac as she glanced between Logan Echolls and Mr Clemmons. It was like waiting for a bomb to go off, somehow even worse than when Veronica almost lost her cool. Logan could be kind of crazy, she’d borne witness to some of it and heard rumours about the rest. The 09ers gossip spread beyond the reaches of their circle at times, and Mac knew of a few things he’d done that were almost unforgivable. If not for his father’s fortune, Logan Echolls probably should’ve been in prison at least three times over, from what she’d heard.

“Logan, take some friendly advice from someone who knows much better than you,” said the Principal smoothly as he leant forward into his desk. “Try spending a little more time trying to do something with yourself and a little less time trying to impress people. You might be better off,” he told him, before standing upright and facing the whole room. “Alright, now I am going to be right outside that door,” he gestured. “And if I have to come in here again, there will be severe consequences,” he said definitely, his eyes going to each of them and lastly landing on Veronica who was still silently seething.

Mr Clemmons didn’t even notice that Weevil quite easily mouthed along that last line he spoke with him. He knew these threats by heart and they almost always came to nothing.

The group of five watched the man’s retreating form, all completely quiet until he was gone from sight, whereupon the silence was shattered by a desk being overturned. Veronica stood behind the table that had just crashed to the floor, feeling just a little better for having vented her anger that way. All the other four could do was stare, until suddenly she righted her own desk, sat herself back down, and let her head fall onto her own arms on the table top.


	4. Class Divided

Time ticks by slowly when there’s nothing to say or do. Since the argument between Veronica Mars and Principal Clemmons and the consequent desk overturning incident, nobody had wanted to be the next one to speak for fear of suffering the wrath of either party.

In the silence, Logan watched Veronica stare off into space looking intensely thoughtful, wondering himself on this whole weird situation. Weevil experimented with new tattoo designs, scribbling onto the empty spaces on his arms, whilst Dick leant back on his chair recounting the ceiling tiles for about the twentieth time, coming up with a different number every single time. Mac stared down at her paper a long time, considering whether to start writing her essay or not, glancing around the room and deciding against it but then not knowing what else to do with her time and feeling increasingly out of place here in detention.

Minutes turned to hours and the overly bored students heads crept closer to the desktops until one by one they dozed off in various awkward positions, at least until the Principal walked in and yelled at them. Strangely, though all apparently asleep, every one of the five raised their hand when asked if they needed to use the bathroom. Anything was apparently preferable to sitting and staring at four walls, and four other people you didn’t really know and never really cared to.

It was soon past ten, and Clemmons had since gone back into his office. Logan could stand the slow agonising waste of time no longer and dared to get up from his seat, going over to one of the shelving units and pretending to look thoughtful as he stared at row upon row of books.

“What are you looking for?” asked Mac, her voice so small she barely heard herself, wondering now why she’d ever even opened her mouth.

“I’m sorry, does anyone else hear a mouse squeaking?” asked Logan as he turned to look at the others. “Hmm, maybe we’re losing our minds,” he said absently.

“Speak for yourself,” replied Weevil with a roll of his eyes.

“You think I’d speak for you?” asked Logan cuttingly. “I don’t even speak your language, amigo,” he snapped, making the Mexican seethe as he knew he would. “Oops!” he said then, throwing a book over his shoulder. “My bad!” he called as another followed, coming close to clocking Dick in the head. “Would that it were Mr Clemmons head,” he said with a flourish as he eyed a third book, then drop-kicked it away so hard it skimmed the edge of the desk where Weevil sat.

Again he glared at the rich white boy, wishing he dared to go over there and knock his teeth down his throat. Of course that would not end well, more detention and most likely criminal charges given the way these 09ers played their games.

“Hey, Weev,” Veronica called his attention, knowing what he was thinking and the trouble he’d get into if he actually acted on the impulses that were fast trying to take him over. “Can you give me a ride home tonight?” she asked, glad when he tore his eyes off Logan and what he was doing and looked her way.

“Sure thing, V,” he agreed easily. “I got time, so long as we move fast, gotta meeting with the guys tonight,” he explained.

“You fixing for a rumble, ese?” she asked him, putting on a voice akin to a Mexican gangsta as she often did when she was joking around with him.

She never failed to make Weevil at least smirk at her ridiculous attempt.

“Ain’t even like that,” he told her with a smile. “Actually, we’re headed out for Felix’s birthday. Bikers do know how to party, y’know?” he explained, much to the surprise of those around him.

“I don’t doubt it,” replied Veronica, even as Mac’s eyes went wide and Dick’s ears perked up at the sound of the word ‘party’.

It hadn’t occurred to either of them that guys like Weevil and his gang would be interested in celebrating anything much, certainly not having Birthday parties for each other. It was odd how you could so easily forget that beneath the leather and attitude, these guys were still people, human beings who sometimes did normal things like everybody else.

“You can come along, if you want,” said Weevil then, apparently offering Veronica to join in the party his friends would be throwing.

She looked like she was at least going to consider it, and even opened her mouth to give some kind of answer to his offer when Logan shut a book loudly and caught everyone’s attention. A brief chuckle emanated from his lips before he tossed aside the volume in his hands and wandered over to where Veronica and Weevil were sat.

“I really mean this,” he said with his hands over his heart in fake sweetness, “aaaw.”

“Get lost, Logan,” snapped Veronica, already sick of his crap and so much of the day was still to be endured.

He never used to be like this, or he did but on a much smaller scale. He said a few thoughtless and hurtful things but usually they were never meant the way they came out. Now it was as if he lived to wound her and anybody else who crossed his path. With her at least he believed he had a reason, though they’d never once talked about it.

“C’mon, if you two are trying to get it together, at least share that joy with the group,” he said with over-the-top flourishes of his arms as he gestured between Veronica and Weevil then out towards himself, Dick, and Mac who were interested in what was going on but trying not to draw attention to themselves right now.

“What’s the matter, Echolls?” the biker couldn’t resist the smirk that rose on his lips. “Jealous?” he asked, one eye brow raised.

He knew Logan and Veronica had been tight back in the day, and he knew why it fell apart. To his mind, they only fought so hard because they never quite got over how much they liked each other underneath it all. He never said a word about it to V, but he’d take any opportunity to get this guy hoppin’ mad!

“Jealous?” Logan echoed, as if disgusted by the thought. “Of you,” he pointed, “and that?” he said nastily, making Veronica seethe on the inside, and cry a little too if she were honest, though not a hint of emotion showed on her face as she leant back in her chair, one foot propped on the desk in front, rocking herself back and forth.

“Y’know, I’ll bet my dad would let me borrow his gun,” she said thoughtfully, forming her hand into the shape of said weapon and aiming it across her arm with one eye closed in concentration, “if I had a real good reason,” she added dangerously as she pointed her ‘gun’ at Logan and ‘fired’.

Logan seemed to remain unfazed, though he could not entirely hide his feelings from Veronica. Her barb stung as much as his, she saw the flash of it in his eyes before the mask fell back into place, and the psychotic jackass was back.

“Ah, Miss Mars and her bumbling former-Sheriff father,” he said, clapping his hands together. “How cute?” he faked a grin that made her want to smack his face, though Weevil was quick to cut in before the blonde said or did something they might all live to regret.

“Now I know he’s jealous of _that_ ,” he said, as Logan turned to look his way. “Ain’t an 09er kid whose parents spend time.” He shook his head. “Only cash, right?”

“What the hell do you know?”

It was Dick who yelled those words, stunning everybody since he’d said next to nothing so far today.

Mac wondered how a famed 09er like Mr Casablancas could be so out of place, when usually he was in the thick of it all. He had so many friends, so much confidence apparently, and yet here, unless something really mattered to him a lot, he barely spoke, hardly made eye contact with anyone. It was strange to realise that here he was as a much an outsider as she was in so many ways, in fact they all were...

“Was I talking to you?” Weevil snapped, looking past Logan at his fellow 09er. “I don’t remember saying your name, _dude_.”

“I don’t get along with my parents either,” Mac found herself saying, not sure why she was throwing herself into the middle of a veritable war zone but deciding she ought to be safe enough. “I mean, I swear I must be adopted, it’s like they just don’t get me at all,” she explained, perhaps just hoping that agreeing with the fact few kids got along with their folks might just earn her points with one side of the battle or the other.

Logan looked unamused at her busting in on his fight and turned too slowly to look sideways at her as he dropped into a seat between her row and Dick’s own.

“What did they want?” he asked. “A freak _without_ a brain.”

“Logan!” immediately Veronica snapped at him, in an angry ton he recognised too well. “For God sakes, be a human being for five seconds,” she urged him. “She has a name,” she told him, as if he didn’t know, her tone softening consideribaly as her eyes moved to the brunette across the room. “It’s Mac, right? You fix computers,” she said, almost smiling at the girl now.

“Yeah,” she nodded, not sure if she liked this situation better or worse knowing that Veronica Mars would have her for an ally given half the chance. “Although Mac is actually short for Mackenzie,” she explained, tucking a strand of blue-streaked hair back behind her ear. “Cindy Mackenzie.”

“Cindy?” Logan practically exploded with laughter as he repeated her name. “Like the cheap ass doll that’s not as hot as Barbie?” he teased her nastily.

“Yeah, ‘cause Logan, that’s the most stylish name ever.” Weevil rolled his eyes, wondering how this kid could be quite so dumb.

Names were names, not a big deal. Your parents gave you the name they wanted you to have, you learned to love it and that was it. Sure he had a nickname he preferred but it didn’t bother him none to have people know his real handle. It was just about the only thing his parents ever gave him, and he wouldn’t part with it for the world.

“Says the guy they named Weevil,” pointed out Logan as he looked his way. “Isn’t that like a bug or something?” he asked with a wave of his hand, but Weevil let it go, knowing it wouldn’t matter to Echolls even if he did explain where his biker name had come from. “And then we have Veronica,” he said, overdoing her name as he hopped to his feet and simultaneously clapped his hands as if he were about to lead a cheer. “Well, at least Elvis Costello liked you,” he said as he walked around her as if stalking pray then hopped up to sit on the desk a row in front of the blonde. “Of course his Veronica was a crazy person. Huh, he must’ve known you,” he told her.

With a too-pleasant smile, Veronica flipped him off, uncaring what he said anymore, or what he thought about her.

“Ooh, obscene finger gestures, and from a girl who used to be so sweet and innocent,” he said with a waggle of his eyebrows that only made her more mad.

“That was a long time ago,” she said flatly, knowing as well as he did this was dangerous ground to wander into, but when he got into this kind of mood, Logan had no fear.

“Yeah, from what I hear, not so virginal anymore, Ronnie,” he baited her. “No more white wedding dreams, huh?” he said with a sigh as if he were disappointed on her behalf, heart broken because she had been.

“Like I’d tell you about my love life, Logan.” She shook her head, arms folded across her chest as she looked away.

“You don’t have to,” he said, deliberately following her eyeline, getting in her face even when she wished he would just get lost. “Everybody already read it on the bathroom wall.” He smirked.

She looked stunned for a moment but not for the reasons he thought at all.

“Oh my God,” she gasped, a hand going to her chest. “You can read?” she asked, as if astonished, but Logan was quick to react and already had his mouth open, ready to throw another clever insult.

“Can I hit this guy yet?” Weevil cut in before he ever got a chance to continue the battle of wits, but Logan refused to be outdone just because he was fighting two on one here.

“Hey, the tough guy woke up,” he said, looking unamused to have Weevil back in the mix.

“Just shut your mouth, Echolls,” he said too seriously as he got up out of his seat now, “or I’ll shut it for you, got it?” he warned.

The way he and Logan were now squaring up to each other made Mac wish she could hide under her desk and not come out til this day was over. She wondered if Dick felt the same, after all the two who would tear lumps out of each other were much closer to his desk than hers.

“You and how many hog-riding buddies?” was Logan’s clever reply, but smart-ass comments and witty retorts would mean nothing if Weevil really decided to hurt him.

“Just me and you, man,” the biker warned. “Two hits. Me hittin’ you and you hittin’ the floor,” he threatened, one fist pounding the opposite hand as he refused to back down.

Veronica looked between them, knowing the only end to what they’d started was going to be a nasty one. She knew it took a lot for Weevil to really lose it, but when he did, you didn’t want to be around for the consequences. He didn’t like to hear his friends dissed, and they had got to be friends this past while. Then there was Logan, who always had to be right, always had to be the big man and prove something. She knew why, though she’d never tell.

When he laughed that almost maniacal laugh, she knew he didn’t mean to make a joke, wasn’t going to let this go and be nothing. Weevil was mistaken to think about backing down and moving back towards his seat. The second he lost concentration, Logan’s laughter was gone, in place an angry yell as he ran and tackled the biker who would dare to threaten him.

They wrestled around for all of thirty seconds, before the crackling and clicking sound of Mr Sparky, Veronica’s trusty taser, had them leaping apart. She’d use it, they both knew she would and it wasn’t worth it. The three stood there in an oddly violent triangle, throwing nasty looks but no punches, at least for now.

Mac was only glad the action was over, never more so than when she heard the rattle of a cleaning lady’s trolley and turned around from the violent scene behind her to see Mary arriving. She was a lunch lady during school hours, but from talking to her Mac had learned she also did cleaning and helped out the janitor some evenings and weekends for extra cash.

The others clearly knew nothing about this lowly staff member beyond her job title. They hadn’t spent time getting to know her, not least because actually talking to her would get them nowhere. Mary was evidentally deaf, as the others learned when she waved to Mac and they began a conversation with their hands.

“What is she doing?” asked Dick, not really meaning to verbalise the thought but it fell out of his mouth without a care.

“Sign language,” said Veronica, as she stared along wit the rest of the group. “She must be deaf,” she added, realising she had never once paid enough attention to the woman to realise this before.

“Hey, Mac,” called Dick, probably the first time he had ever used her name or said anything that was really meant for her ears. “What’s she sayin’?” he wanted to know, as Mac excused herself from her conversation with Mary to listen to him and answer his question.

“Not much, just asked why I was here.” She shrugged, then telling Mary what Dick’s question had been.

“Can you ask her a question for me?” asked Logan then, and Mac glanced his way, wary of the smirk on his face.

Still, she figured she was safe. Logan wouldn’t know what she was saying, in fact it was unlikely anyone in the room would know but herself and Mary. 

“Sure,” she agreed easily, quickly explaining to Mary that the ‘jackass’ had a question for her.

She smiled amusedly at that and turned to look at Logan as he spoke.

“How does a person become a school cleaning lady?” he asked, and though she had half an idea what he was saying from reading his lips, it helped to have Mac sign the question out straight after.

Her fingers quickly formed a reply and all four onlookers were waiting for Mac to explain.

“She wants to know why you’re asking,” she said, looking back to Logan who only smiled for a moment.

“Because I think it’d make a great job for Weevs.” He chuckled, dodging away from the biker who was shooting him an evil look.

The 09er knew damn well that Weevil’s grandma was a cleaner, in the Echolls house no less. Most of the Navarro family and those connected to them had fairly menial jobs, and though he was not ashamed of the world he came from, Eli could use not having his face rubbed in it.

“Mary says you’re a fool,” said Mac then, catching everyone’s attention, but Logan’s most especially. “You hate people for being different, but in the end, we’re all the same,” she recited, reading each movement of the Mary’s hands, and laughing lightly and what came next. “And that clock is twenty minutes fast,” she said, pointing to the timepiece in question above their heads.

As the boys reacted with anger and disbelief, Veronica could only smile.


	5. The Lunch Bunch

Mac was the least comfortable she had ever been, well, almost anyway. The absolute worst place she’d found herself so far was in the school library surrounded by people so far removed from her social circle it was untrue, but this ran a close second. Walking the halls of Neptune High with Dick Casablancas, 09er surf dude extraordinaire was not Mac’s idea of a fun time, but unfortunately she had no choice in the matter.

When Mr Clemmons announced it was lunch time, there had been a fuss about drinks being provided and despite Logan’s offer, the Principal had chosen Dick and Mac, the only two people in the room not to incur his wrath so far, to go to the Teacher’s Lounge and collect some cans of soft drink from the machine there. So far neither Mac nor Dick had spoken a word, just walked the route they knew well in uncomfortable silence, him with his hands shoved in his pockets, clattering along rows of open locker doors and such, her with her arms folded across her chest, observing him when he wasn’t looking, and finding the floor highly interesting when he was.

Dick himself was thoroughly bored. He could deal with detention if that was what he had to do, but the silence was killing him. Logan and Veronica only wanted to yell at each other, and Weevil hardly spoke to anyone unless he was threatening them. As for Mac, she was way too geeky to be of any interest to him, he told himself, though he figured she had hotness potential if she tried some.

“Detention sucks,” he said aloud, so suddenly he made her jump, though it had not been his intention.

“Amen to that,” she agreed, without really thinking as they got to the Teacher’s Lounge and started picking out what they each wanted and what the others might like.

“Why are you even here?” asked Dick, looking at her sideways before going back to choosing between soda types. “What’d you do? Lose your pocket protector?” He laughed at his own joke that was pathetic at best and hurtful at worst.

Mac stared at him a long moment, considering whether she wanted to deign to answer such a stupid comment. Stereotypes were so lame. If she saw people as just a small part of a clique and characterized them as being all the same, she could make similar comments to Dick, but she couldn’t and wouldn’t be that way. Of course, it was fact that the 09ers were treated like royalty at Neptune and most of the time they could buy their way out of any crime they may commit. That begged the question, how had the Casablancas allowed their baby boy to end up here on a Saturday?

“What did you do?” she asked instead, actually truly interested though she wasn’t sure whether he’d realise that or not.

She waited long enough for his answer that never seemed to come. Eventually he just shrugged and turned his attention back to the vending machine, popping out one can after the other and handing them to her.

“What? Did your surfboard hit you on the head and make you forget why you’re in trouble?” she asked, a little shocked that the thought in her head had leaked out her mouth in quite that way.

It was a little venomous for Mac, but he had thought nothing of verbally attacking her, or rather the stereotype geek he believed her to be. Dick himself was known for being kind of a beach bum, only interested in sun, sea, surf, and sex. She had as much right as he did to be mean. Playground rules were suddenly in play and her excuse was clear - he started it.

“At least I can ride a wave,” he all but sneered, much to Mac’s surprise.

A snort of laughter escaped her, before she had a chance to hold it back.

“Could you hack a computer?” she asked him seriously, looking indignant and wishing she could fold her arms to help her stature, only holding four soda cans prevented it. “It’s a lot more useful than surfing,” she said definitely as Dick’s mouth fell open with surprise.

“You can do that?” he asked, genuinely astonished apparently that a geek like her not only had the talent but also the daring to go hacking into places she shouldn’t.

Perhaps it was a bigger surprise to realise there were chicks that did that kind of thing, especially ones with a potential for hotness underneath the nerd-like exterior.

“Sure,” she confirmed. “Not that I’ve hacked into much that matters,” she back-pedalled, knowing that was entirely untrue and that she was turning red as she spun an awkward lie. “I mean, I could, but I don’t.” She shook her head, thinking better of it now.

If she told Dick about her less legal activities that could lead to all kinds of badness. There was no way to know if she could trust a guy like him, she hardly knew him. Truth be told, despite the fact they had been in school together since Kindergarten, she was pretty sure this was the first real conversation they’d ever had, and all because they were both stupid enough to get landed in a Saturday detention.

“Y’know, you’re actually pretty cool, for a computer chick.” He smiled, that winning smile she usually saw him aiming at pretty girls, 09er girls, girls that weren’t her.

It was the weirdest feeling for Mac who had always assumed she would find herself unmoved by such a look from a guy like Dick Casablancas. It was weird the effect just a smile could have when it came from a guy who was known for his looks and charm.

“Shut up,” she muttered, despite the fact he was not speaking, but she honestly wasn’t sure how to take his compliment or his friendly expression as he took a couple of the cans he had handed her and they began walking back to the library together.

“So, I guess surfing does seem pretty dumb to a brain like you.” He shrugged, realising that she really wouldn’t understand the fun in that kind of activity.

“It’s not that so much.” Mac sighed, feeling dumb as she glanced sideways at him and then back at the floor. “It’s just... I can’t swim,” she admitted, making him start.

“Woah, dude,” he exclaimed, much to her amusement.

Mac never saw someone so stunned by such a simple statement, but at least he didn’t laugh at her like she expected. As a kid, she was always a stay at home in her room type, never was really interested in going out on the beach and all. She was the pale shy girl, not a beach babe in any way at all. That was strictly Dick’s territory, not that she thought he was in anyway hot...

“Someone should totally teach you to swim,” he said, with a look that Mac couldn’t quite unscramble.

Did he just make her an offer?

* * *

“How do you people not make yourselves sick?” asked Weevil as he sat across a desk from Logan, holding a hand of cards but not really looking at them. “I mean, it’s like you walk on water in this school, and for what?” he wanted to know. “It’s nothing that you do. I mean, all that matters is who your parents are and the zip code your Mom shot you out in,” he remarked, until Logan rolled his eyes.

“And if I donate to the United Latino Pain-in-the-Ass fund, will you shut the hell up and just play?” he asked, waiting for Weevil to take his turn, either show the colour of his money or fold already.

Weevil laid down another bill , Logan upped the stakes a second later and his competitor smiled.

“You’re almost as bad an actor as your father,” he said, at which the 09er visibly bristled.

They continued their back-and-forth, much to the vague amusement of Veronica. She had been slumped over her desk, head resting on her arms feigning sleep much of the time between her confrontation with the guys and now. She was always listening, always aware, and right now bored as hell. Turning her chair around in one movement, she faced the table at which her two maybe-friends played their poker game.

“Mornin’, sleepyhead,” Weevil greeted her with a smirk, that turned into a less happy expression when he couldn’t read the look on her own face. “What’s up, V?”

“She just likes to watch men play, right, Ronnie?” said Logan, with a waggle of his eyebrows as she looked his way, “or did you wanna get in on the action, huh?”

She honestly wasn’t sure if his offer was genuine or he was trying to bait her with what was most definitely a suggestive remark and loaded question both. Veronica never backed down from a challenge, even if her intention here had never been to play this game, only to observe.

“Sure,” she said smartly, as Logan collected up the cards and shuffled them. “Deal me in,” she instructed, reaching into her back pocket for some stake money and pulling her chair up closer to the table.

“You know how to play poker?” asked Weevil, knowing she was exactly your average girl but still surprised if she were the card playing kind.

“Some jackass taught me, a long time ago,” she said, her eyes never leaving the table.

Logan couldn’t help but start, looking at Veronica with a clearly surprised expression that Weevil was certain he had read correctly. He was the guy that taught V all she knew about card playing, years ago when she was ‘one of them’. She had never been fancy enough to actually live in the 09 zip, but she’d been in with the in crowd once upon a time.

The moment was too weird for Logan and so he resorted to petty and childish comments as he so often had before.

“Like that’s the only thing a guy ever taught you,” he said, his meaning obvious, but Veronica didn’t flinch at all.

Surprisingly, the blonde actually laughed, making it unclear whether she was chuckling at his words, or at the killer hand of cards she held now.

“What’s the matter, Logan?” she shot back at him. “Need some pointers?” she asked, quirking an eyebrow at him and making him smirk.

If Weevil didn’t know better he’d say this was some kind of weird flirting going on between the two, and that being the case he could really used not bearing witness to it.

“I can’t hear this on an empty stomach.” He squirmed, shaking his head as he was forced to fold and Logan lost the hand to Veronica.

“No more dirty talk,” he warned her then, making out to shush her with a finger at his lips. “We’ve got virginal ears in the room,” he said, gesturing to where Mac was entering the room, with Dick in tow.

“Hey.” The poor girl looked affronted, despite the fact his comment was most likely true and everyone knew it. “I... I’m not that virginal,” she protested, the fight going out of her some as everyone stared at her.

“Oh, really?” asked Logan as he twisted in his seat to peer at her and Dick putting a can of soda on each desk.

“Logan.” The tone of Veronica’s voice told him he should let it go, and she was wearing the look to match as he glanced her way.

“What?” he asked as if innocent. “I’m just wondering,” he went on as Mac retook her seat, putting her back to the others and trying to ignore all of them, “underneath that pale, freak facade, is there a wild woman trying to get out?” he asked with a chuckle, and though he knew he shouldn’t Weevil couldn’t help but laugh along with his supposed enemy.

“Hey, dude! Cut it out,” Dick urged them as he leaned forward in his own seat, attempting to see if Mac was okay or upset, but finding it impossible.

They’d got talking in the halls and actually got along. Mac seemed decent, nice even, and it wasn’t right for the guys to make her cry or whatever.

“Ooh, so that’s how it is?” said Weevil snapping his fingers in a moment of realisation. “Little Miss Nerd has been gettin’ it on with the Surf Boy?” he teased them, as Veronica rolled her eyes at the pathetic attempts at humour she was hearing.

She was about to tell the guys to cut it out, when she suddenly realised Mac was quite able to stand up for herself, despite appearances.

“No!” she yelled, turning around to face them, dark eyes flashing more with frustration and anger than with tears. “Excuse me for being a virgin,” she barked at them. “I’m sorry,” she added pointlessly, glaring at them all and daring them to continue their teasing.

She had shocked them all, every single one of the four people in the room with her. It had to been her intention, not the yelling or the glaring or the surprise. She was just so sick of people making fun of her for a hundred and one things that were nothing to do with them. They presumed to know her and judge her on what and who they thought she was. They were so wrong.

“Why didn’t you want us to know you were a virgin?” asked Veronica in the silence that followed, genuinely curious as to why it would bother anyone.

There were rumours aplenty about her own sex life, and not a word of it phased her. She knew the truth, and if they bothered to ask her she’d tell that truth to anyone at all. Of course, they never asked..

“It’s personal business,” said Mac, much less forcefully now as she fought the urge to turn away and look weak. “It’s my personal, private business.”

“Well, Cindy,” said Logan, looking annoyingly friendly somehow, “it doesn’t sound like you’re doing any business,” he pointed out, making Dick just mad enough to snap.

“I’d date a virgin,” he said, causing four pairs of eyes to now switch to him and stare. “It’s so not a big deal.” He shrugged, not sure why he’d even said a word.

His reason was handed to him then as Mac caught his eye and shot him a genuinely grateful, if not somewhat embarrassed smile, mouthing a silent ‘thank you’ just moments before the door swung open with a thwack and Mr Clemmons came striding in.

“Is this Reno or detention?” he asked, observing the cards and cash all over the furthest desk, between Weevil, Logan, and Veronica.

“Would you believe the best of both?” she said smartly, if only to get one more shot in after the way she’d allowed the Principal to upset her hours before.

“This is punishment, people, not party time,” he told them sternly, yanking away their cards, whilst the three pushed their money back into their pockets.

“Well, that would explain the absence of balloon animals,” said Logan softly, making Veronica smirk as they both turned their chairs back around to their own desks.

Sometimes Logan reminded her all too easily why she should hate him, other times she recalled how they’d come to be such good friends once upon a time.

The only sound then was of Mr Clemmons ordering everyone to eat their lunch in silence, or else.

Yeah, like that was ever going to happen.


	6. The Lunch Bunch, Part Deux

Lunch time. It was simple enough, everybody got out their food and ate, at least that was how it ought to be. One would expect it to be the quietest time, a lack of talking due to the fact all mouths were full with sandwiches and such. Unfortunately, Logan wasn’t much for the silence or letting others just do whatever they were doing. He wanted attention, like the brat he was prone to being, and so he inserted himself into the private space of those around him as they tried to get on with the task of quietly unpacking and eating their lunch.

Weevil was chomping on what appeared to be left overs from last nights take out. Veronica had something she had doubtless grabbed from the coffee shop on the way over, and Dick, much like himself, had something basic and nutrional as packed by one of the staff of his 09er house. Logan pushed his own lunch aside with distaste and got a wicked smirk on his face as he spotted Mac with her perfectly folded brown paper bag and a special home-made lunch apparently.

Moving to go sit by her, he knocked her elbow so much as he sat down, she almost threw her carton of juice on the floor.

“So, what’s for lunch, Cindy?” he used the name she was bound to hate on purpose, just to see if she would react - she didn’t.

“Uh, food?” she said with sarcasm evident as she lined up said food on the desk before her.

“I think maybe you picked up the wrong bag,” Logan told her as he flinched away from her lunch. “Smells like something died in there,” he complained.

“The actual point is that it didn’t,” she told him with a half-smile she couldn’t help, off his look of confusion she added. “I’m a vegetarian,” she explained, popped a straw in her juice carton and taking a swig.

She hoped he would get bored and leave her alone soon, she could use not having an audience when she ate, and Mac was sure most people would feel the same.

“Well, I still think it’s cute that Mommy probably made this for you,” he teased her, kind of a lame insult as far as she could tell, but supposedly the guy couldn’t be on top of his game all the time.

“At least my Mommy has the time to make my lunch,” she told him smartly. “We don’t have to hire someone to do it for us,” she threw her barb with pinpoint accuracy, keeping her face away from his and not wanting to know if it stung or not.

She didn’t like to hurt people for no reason, but this guy had given her too many now. He was such a jackass, and he didn’t seem to care who he hurt. That being true, Mac found it difficult to care about him and how she might make him feel with her harsh words. Still, she was mindful of inciting a full-scale war here. Given the differences in social class, race, gender, and everything else they had stood between each of the students here today, it could happen all too easily.

Logan never actually answered her comment, did not make a remark on it at all, but only because his attention was swiftly diverted to Weevil. Apparently he appreciated the fact that someone like her would stand up to Logan even a little bit. In fact, he seemed to find it very amusing.

“You’re such a joke, man,” he said with a shake of his head as Logan craned his neck to stare back at him. “You think you can make the chica feel bad by laying into her ‘cause her mother loves her?”

“We should all be so lucky, huh, Weev?” Logan smirked, unable to help himself. “Where exactly is _your_ mother? Or your father for that matter?” he asked, making Veronica want to swing for him on the spot.

“Logan, no,” she warned him, sure there was going to be a whole other set of trouble if he continued down this road with Weevil.

“What?” he asked the blonde, trying to look innocent as he got up from his seat by Mac and wandered back down the room. “I’m just trying to find out a little Navarro family history.” He shrugged, like it was no big deal, knowing full well that it was.

No-one knew exactly why Eli lived with his grandma and cousins, but chances were good that one or both his parents were dead. If either were alive, they clearly didn’t want him around and that’d maybe hurt worse in some ways than knowing they’d been taken from him.

“Logan,” said Veronica once again, grabbing at his arm as he went to walk by her. “Please, don’t,” she begged him with her eyes to let it go just this once.

Whether she knew the truth of Weevil’s parentage or not was unclear, but she obviously knew it was a touchier subject than even Logan could ever have guessed. Still, he considered ignoring her and doing what he wanted anyway.

The guy wasn’t all bad, Veronica knew the good person he used to be still existed deep inside and her eyes tried to seek him out. It took a little while, but suddenly Logan tore his arm from her grasp and ran a hand back through his hair as he turned away. He dropped back into his seat in silence and Veronica let out a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding until the moment was over.

The group returned to their lunch for all of ten seconds, everyone relaxing just a moment before Veronica heard Weevil muttering.

“Spineless asshole,” he said, clearly speaking of Logan who had backed down from a fight.

The little blonde’s eyes fell closed as she cursed her friends inability to leave things be. Weevil wouldn’t hear anything said against his family, absent or not, and she ought to have known it. Even Logan’s implications about the Mexican’s home life had been enough to severely piss him off, as she’d known all too well. She had hoped that if she got Logan to shut his mouth fast enough all would be well. Unfortunately, she had been wrong.

“You don’t know me,” he ground out, without turning around, and Veronica was almost proud of the fact Logan was holding his temper so far.

“I don’t have to know you, man,” said Weevil with a nasty kind of a laugh. “I know your type.”

“My type?” the 09er practically exploded, and the other three in the room all visibly winced at the volume he reached with just those two words.

Mac and Dick shared a worried glance then looked over at the fight unfolding on the opposite side of the room. Veronica couldn’t stand to turn around, but there was no way to avoid hearing Weevil’s impression of life at the Echolls house.

“Hey, Daddy,” he mimicked Logan’s voice badly, deliberately coming off like a whiney kid from a cartoon or similar. “Can I have a million dollars to waste on cars, booze, and crap?”

“Sure, son,” he continued in a deeper tone that was obviously supposed to be Aaron. “Hey, have two million, why not?”

“Hey, Mommy,” back in the fake-Logan voice. “My teacher gave me a D in class today.”

“Don’t worry, kid,” he squeaked then, clearly imitating Lynn very badly. “We’ll pay him enough money, he’ll give you an A.”

“Shut up, man,” said Logan in a dangerously low voice.

Veronica could imagine the look on his face and she hated to think how this would end. She knew the way life really was at the Echolls house, but it was not her secret to tell. That was why she sat still, facing away from the painful scene, wishing she could close her ears as easily as her eyes, wishing the world away as Weevil continued his one-man show.

“I want a car and a boat and a airplane, Daddy!” he whined.

“Buy whatever you want, son, I don’t care, I’m rich as all hell!” he answered himself.

“Do you love me Mommy?” he went on, as Mac shook her head wishing it would just stop.

“Sure, son. I can afford to love everybody, because we’re so damn rich!” Weevil’s voice broke out of his play acting tones as he got mad about what he was saying.

At the same moment, Logan lost his temper, slamming his hand against the desk as he got to his feet.

“You’re such an idiot!” he told Weevil angrily, a hollow humourless laugh escaping his lips. “You have no idea what my life is like,” he told him.

“Tell me I’m wrong,” Weevil challenged him, getting to his feet now too, standing toe to toe with this worthless rich boy who he’d happily knock to the floor right now if he didn’t think he’d be in worse trouble for it, with Veronica and the Principal both. “Tell me you don’t get every little thing your rich white-boy heart desires?” he said, getting in Logan’s face just too much.

“You wanna know what it’s like at my house, man?” he asked him. “Fine!” he exploded, waving his arms wide with a theatrical flourish as he backed up a couple of steps.

All Mac and Veronica could do was stare, the former if not the latter wondering what on Earth would come next.

“This oughta be good,” muttered Dick as he settled down for the show, almost amused by all this.

“I’ll bet it won’t,” said Veronica softly, knowing none of the occupants in the room would be so eager for this messy fight/conversation to continue if they knew the truth like she did.

In a moment Logan was facing his audience, play acting the parts of himself and his parents much like Weevil had done, but with much less over-done acting.

“Dad, I need you to sign this. I failed a Math test today?” he said, as if Aaron were stood to his right hand side, holding out a make-believe piece of paper as he did so.

“How’d that happen, son?” he responded to himself, stepping to where his father would be, and then back to be himself again.

“I didn’t study because you made me go to that party with you and Mom last night,” he explained, as Veronica bit her lip, looking sideways at the performance, pretty sure she knew what was coming.

“Oh, so it’s my fault now?” Logan exploded at himself in something akin to Aaron’s voice. “You ungrateful little...”

There was an audible crack as Logan brought back his fist and swung at the thin air that would’ve been himself, slamming it into his opposite hand for effect.

“Aaron, don’t,” he said, with a step to the left and a somewhat gentler tone to play his own mother. “It’s not his fault.” 

“Shut your mouth, Lynn,” yelled ‘Aaron’ another heavy punch being thrown.

The clever smirk/smile had fallen from Weevil’s face by now as he took in the action before him. Mac could hardly stand to watch and yet at the same time could not tear her eyes away, and the same could be said for Dick. The blond surfer physically winced, eyes wide as Logan spoke one last line in his father’s voice.

“Get me the belt! Get it now!”

“Logan, stop,” said Veronica, getting up from her seat so fast her chair went flying.

She stood before him with such pain in her eyes, he knew she knew the truth, and yet he didn’t want her sympathy or her understanding. Too much had happened, he couldn’t deal with her being nice to him, not now.

“Why?” he yelled in her face. “Because you don’t want to believe it? Because none of these idiots believe it?” he asked her, flinging an arm wide and gesturing to each of his fellow detentionees.

“Your Dad wouldn’t hit you like that,” said Mac in such a quiet voice she was barely heard, “and your Mom-”

“Really?” Logan didn’t even let her finish. “That Math test was for real,” he told her, so angry and upset she wondered why she’d ever doubted him, more so when he roughly untucked his shirt from his pants and showed the whole room his back, “and this is what I got for it,” he told them.

“Dude, how many tests did you fail?” asked Dick in shock and sickened amazement at the sight of so many scars down his fellow 09ers back.

“Not just failing a test.” Logan shook his head sadly, letting his shirt fall down over his back once again. “I don’t pick my laundry up off the floor, or I don’t look grateful enough for a gift,” he told Dick, then Mac, and finally Veronica. “I don’t laugh enough at one of Daddy’s dumb jokes, or he thinks I made him look stupid...” he trailed off as the little blond stood before him still, with what seemed like tears in her eyes.

That hurt Logan almost as much as anything ever had, and given what he’d been through, that was saying something.

“You serious, man?” asked Weevil, wondering why he’d ever started this now, but then he couldn’t possibly have known the truth.

“Do I look like I’m joking?!” yelled Logan, striding past Veronica to get back in the bikers face, his sleeve pulled up to his elbow and his arm shoved in the others guys face. “See this, Eli?!” he pointed out a scar on his forearm that there was no way to ignore. “About the size of a cigar,” he explained. “That’s what you get at my house if you say the wrong thing where Daddy Dearest can hear.”

Eli looked shame-faced and felt worse. He opened his mouth not knowing whether he intended to apologise or what, but never got the chance to say anything as his 09er enemy turned roughly away, running a hand back through his hair.

“Logan...”

“I don’t want your sympathy, Veronica,” he snapped at her, knocking her hand away as she reached for him. “I don’t want anything from any of you idiots!” he yelled, understandably angry and upset still as he practically ran away to the back of the library where he could no longer be seen.

Weevil watched him go then turned to Veronica.

“Did you know?” he asked her, pretty sure he already knew the answer.

She slowly nodded, but could not find a word to say.


	7. Band on the Run

For once in its existence, the Neptune high school library was actually silent. It almost never happened on any normal day, and strangely it was a Saturday when detention was in session that it was usually the noisiest, as the unruly element of the school shared space and time. Today the library had seen its share of arguments, fights, and even jokes, but it was very different now.

Logan had come back to his seat just a few minutes ago, though he had said not a word. After his revelation about the abuse he apparently suffered at his father’s hands, nobody was willing to be the first to speak to him or to anyone else, truth be told. Veronica thought about it, ideas of things she might say or do spinning around in her head at a mile a minute. In the end she chose to keep her head down and her mouth shut for the time being, not her usual tactic but it seemed for the best right now since it was what everybody else was doing too.

“Damn it!”

The long and drawn out silence, punctuated up to this point only by the gentle ticking of the clock, was suddenly shattered in a major way by the yelling of Vice Principal Clemmons, and the slamming of his office door. Thinking fast, Veronica jumped up from her seat and dodged over to the door, peering out just in time to catch sight of Clemmons walking bow-legged down the corridor, a brown puddle forming behind him as he moved away. The smell that hit her told her his accident was less embarrassing than it might first appear. Still, hot coffee in a persons lap was never good for them, even if it did amuse her to no end!

Biting her lip so as not to giggle too much, Veronica glanced back at her fellow detentionees, considering whether she should say anything now or just leave. She could use a hand on her mission, besides she kind of felt she owed Logan a break after what happen before. There was no love lost between them these days, but some of the stuff he had gone through, especially at Aaron’s hands, she knew nobody deserved that, not even her worst enemy, and Logan had never quite been that, no matter how much she tried to force the label on him.

“Hey, Logan,” she hissed. “Follow me,” she told him, not an offer so much as a command as she peered out the door once again and was gone in a second.

Logan didn’t appear to think about the situation much before he got to his feet and went after her. Not loving the idea of leaving the pair alone, no matter how acutely aware he was that V could handle herself, Weevil was soon up from his chair too, following the runaways as they left.

Alone in the room, Mac shifted awkwardly in her seat. Staying meant being on her own with Dick, which felt weird. Leaving meant running out on detention, disobeying Mr Clemmons and being a rebel, which didn’t seem right either. Craning her neck, she turned to see if the blond dude behind her was making a move at all. Instead she found he was staring at her already, presumably waiting for her reaction before he had one of his own.

Dick raised one eyebrow in a question, and Mac’s lips curved into a smile as she nodded her agreement. In a second they were out of the door, one behind the other, mindful of letting it shut with too much a thump as they tore off down the hall, catching up to the others as soon as they rounded the next corner.

“How do you know where Clemmons went?” asked Logan just as they arrived.

“I don’t.” Veronica smiled, unable to help but feel exhilarated by once again getting one over on ‘the man’.

“And you don’t know when he'll be back,” commented Weevil, sure this was a very bad plan but unable to help the smirk that came to his lips at the cajones on this girl, despite the fact the very phrase was kind of an oxymoron.

“That’s half the fun,” said the girl in question, as she peered around the next corner and suddenly bolted, with barely time for a gesture encouraging the others to follow her.

“Being bad feels pretty good, huh? said Dick to Mac as they tore down the hall and he noticed the odd smile on her face.

“Yeah, kinda does.” She nodded, figuring by now that if she was going to be in detention she may as well have done something worthy of such a punishment.

Besides, following Veronica seemed much safer than staying behind and having to cover for where her and the guys had gone. Mac trusted the little blonde enough to keep them safe, she was the resident expert at this stuff anyway. That trust wavered a little when the usually good girl realised they were headed for the Teacher’s Lounge door; no doubt breaking in was on the cards. She realised a second later how wrong she was as Veronica pulled a bunch of keys from the pocket of her jeans, dangling them in the light.

“You have a key to the Teachers Lounge?” asked Logan, not sure whether he was more surprised or impressed at the revelation.

“I have a key to just about everything,” she confirmed, figuring that she was safe in telling this particular group of people her secret, after all they’d be in as much trouble as her if Clemmons found out what they were doing.

The door was open in a second, and the group rushed in, taking in the odd little room they had never seen before. Comfy chairs, coffee machine, mini fridge, it was all they might’ve expected, except it was perhaps missing a dartboard with their pictures on it. They were unimpressed, one and all, at least until they realised what Veronica was doing.

“Bingo!” She grinned as she slid her hand down the back of the cabinet in the corner and produced a bottle that she handed off to Logan, then another that landed in Weevil’s grasp as she tossed it his way.

Both were a little surprised to realise that Veronica had just unearthed what appeared to be the Faculty’s secret stash of booze. A bottle of scotch now sat in Logan’s hands, whilst Weevil held vodka.

“Nice!” exclaimed Dick with a grin as he noticed the prize they had scored. “Guess it’s party time, huh, Ronnie?” He winked at her.

She rolled her eyes and chose to ignore him as Logan and Weevil pointlessly hid the bottles beneath their jackets and the group moved back towards the door, following Veronica’s lead. Mac who had been at the back was now up front, tapping the blonde’s shoulder.

“Why would the teachers even have this stuff?” she asked curiously, also wanting to know why they’d bothered to steal it but pretty sure she already understood that.

“Medicinal?” was all Veronica gave as a suggested answer with a shrug of her shoulders as she checked the coast was still clear and ran for it, her four cohorts in hot pursuit.

Striding down the hall, Veronica was flanked by Logan and Weevil once again with Mac and Dick bringing up the rear as they had been on the way out of the library in the first place. A long way from Clemmons eyes and ears, they had all relaxed just a little as they made their way back around the building to where they had started.

“We’ll cross through the lab, and then we’ll double back,” the blonde said thoughtfully, planning their journey as best she could so that none of them would get caught out.

“You better be right, V.” Weevil warned her. “If Clemmons cuts us off...”

“Hey, have a little faith, Eli,” she told him, faking an affronted expression. “When did I ever let you down?”

He didn’t answer as they moved off down the hall, around the corner and through the lab as she had suggested. Unfortunately, they never made it through the next door before Veronica realised she had made a mistake, spotting Clemmons and bolting back in the opposite direction, pushing Logan aside as he got in her way.

As they came to a junction in the halls, he went one way and Veronica the other. Weevil followed his friend, but Mac and Dick both looked somewhat uncertain. Ronnie had already made one mistake, but Logan was such a jackass and probably couldn’t be trusted. Neither the surfer nor the geek wanted to pick sides right now, at least not if the other wasn’t willing to.

“That way is no good,” said Veronica definitely. “Logan, you’ll never-”

“I’m willing to trust my own instincts way more than yours right now, Ronnie,” he told her, continuing on his own way.

It would have been easy just to let him go, but Veronica knew it wasn’t fair. Leave no man behind, it was a rule she would like to think she lived by, even if said man was an a-hole to her most of the time these days. Today at least they seemed to be learning that being a team was better than having nothing.

With an exasperated sigh, she took a gamble on Logan’s sense of direction and that meant Weevil followed. Dick was soon jogging along behind, before realising that Mac had not moved. He turned back to see her peering down the hall where Veronica had meant to go, unsure what she was doing here and why. Without a word, he went back to her, grabbed her hand, and dragged her with him as he followed the others.

Mac was startled beyond words by the action, though she did not pull her hand away or anything. It wasn’t just the shock that stopped her; in all honesty, the feel of strong fingers gripping her own was nice, better than nice even. The realisation that Dick even noticed she had been left behind and cared enough to ensure he came back and fetched her, it caused the strangest sensation inside of Cindy Mackenie, but she knew at least that she liked it - a lot.

Unfortunately, the grin on her face at Dick’s kindness was short-lived as the group bounced off the next set of double-doors they reached. Clearly they were locked and bolted.

“C’mon, V,” Weevil prompted when all Veronica did was turn away. “Keys?”

“These are new doors,” she pointed out. “Installed after a certain group of bikers got into a fight down this way and bust up the last ones,” she said, giving him a severe look. “New doors means new locks and I don’t have this key yet.”

“Can’t you, like, pick the lock or something?” asked Dick, dropping Mac’s hand so fast when the others turned to look at him that she made a little sound of surprise, though thankfully no-one seemed to notice.

“No time.” She shook her head, calculating quickly and realising that Clemmons was bound to catch them now.

“Damn, man,” said Weevil, looking angrily at Logan. “Why’d we have to listen to you?”

“We’re busted,” said Mac, just loud enough to be heard, but Veronica shook her head one more time.

“No,” she said definitely. “Get back to the library, don’t drop the bottles, and hide them the second you get back,” she told them, pointing a definite finger at them all. “I’ll take the heat,” she assured them as she ran off down the hall, banging her feet hard against the floor so she could be easily heard, adding to her volume as she began to sing too. “Take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand...”

Clemmons reacted the moment he heard her voice, seething as he doubled back down the hallways, looking for Veronica Mars. She deliberately kept the Principal away from the library til she was sure the gang would be back there. Why she would take the heat for everybody else they couldn’t understand, but Veronica had her reasons. She figured she was in so much trouble anyway, a little more wouldn’t hurt, besides she was the one that led then all out of their detention space, so it became her responsibility to get them back there without being caught.

Still singing loudly, Veronica rounded the next corner and came face to face with an angry looking Mr Clemmons, his arms folded across his chest. She mirrored his stance, every inch an imputent child in that moment as she stuck out her chin and smartly finished her song in spoken words;

“You can’t take the sky from me.”

Unsurprisingly, he did not look impressed.

“Veronica Mars, why must you behave this way?” he asked her with a tired sigh and a shake of his balding head as he came towards her.

“I’m blaming a combination of teenage hormones, a broken home, and lack of natural respect for the authority of my elders,” she told him, smart-assed as ever in spite of the trouble she was in.

The anger seemed to go out of Clemmons somewhat as he looked down at the blonde then. Honestly, he felt kind of sorry for her. The broken home part of what she said he knew to be no lie, and it had to be a huge contributing factor to her aim to misbehave of late. Cutting her some slack might have been easier in the beginning, but as she spiralled further and further out of control, he had no choice but to be harsh with her, even if it didn’t change her and made him feel like he was banging his head against a brick wall most of the time.

“What are you doing out here, Veronica?” he asked her tiredly. “In fact, why are you here in the first place? You used to be such a good student.”

Her eyes dipped to the floor at the sound of those words, but her gaze met his again in a second as she gave her reply.

“Bad things happen to good people,” she said simply, knowing he ought to have understood by now what her problems were, it wasn’t as if they were a secret here in Neptune where everyone seemed to know everyone else’s business.

“I’m afraid I’m running out of smart ideas, Veronica,” the Principal told her honestly. “I just don’t know what to do with you anymore.”

“Me either,” she said, surprising him just a little, making him look at her with sympathy that she just couldn’t stand and that was it, she snapped, “but I did hear you know exactly what to do with the school secretary...”

Clemmons winced at the sound of her words, not damaged by the barb she threw or even concerned by the knowledge she thought she had, just so disappointed in her, and somewhat angry that she’d thrown an olive branch back in his face one more time.

“I’m sorry, Veronica, but you’ve left me with no choice,” he told her, leading her away. “Let’s see how you fare in solitary for a while.”


	8. Holding It Together

“Well, this is... cosy,” said Veronica as she was brought into a storeroom containing shelves of dusty boxes filled with dusty folders and files.

“These are school records, very old ones, but unfortunately we’re not allowed to just throw these things out,” Principal Clemmons explained to her as he turned on the light that was just one dim bulb and ushered her further into the room. “For reference purposes it would be easier if these files were in some kind of order, and since I’m sure you at least recall your alphabet if nothing else of your education.”

“You want me to alphabetise this entire room?” asked Veronica, with appropriately wide eyes, after all there was enough work to keep her busy for at least six all-day detentions nevermind just this one that was already half over.

“I want you to make a start, and we’ll see where we go from there,” he told her with a nod, before turning to leave.

He didn’t quite make it out of the door before looking back at Veronica one more time.

“You know, I take no pleasure in punishing you,” he told her and that most definitely got her attention. “I wonder, Veronica, if you get any real kick out of misbehaving.”

His words were not meant to injure her, quite the opposite in fact, she saw sympathy and even pity in his looks as he glanced back at her and then finally left. She didn’t want that, didn’t want him to look at her like some poor lost little girl, because she was not. She was Veronica Mars and she was not to be messed with, not anymore, no way. This was a point she attempted to prove as she threw the nearest object after the Principal. The long abandoned coffee mug from the shelf beside her ricocheted off the now closed door and smashed to the floor in a less than satisfactory way for Veronica as tears welled in her eyes. She refused to let them fall, just sucked in a deep breath and forced down the emotion that rose up inside.

Picking up the folders beside her, she pushed two Bs behind an A.

“He said make a start,” she muttered, her token gesture counting as such in her own head, before she moved towards the door, hand twisting the knob only to realise that it would not shift. “Asshole,” she swore as she realised that for all his supposed kindness to her, Clemmons had in fact locked her in this damn storeroom.

It was not a place she really knew existed so chances were good her keychain did not hold the one needed to make her escape. There were other ways of course, she smiled to herself, as she pulled a grip from her hair and twisted it appropriately. Crouched down to the level of the lock, it took just a few moments of concentration and manoeuvring before the mechanism made a satisfying pop.

“Yahtzee!”

A wide grin took over Miss Mars face as she checked the coast was clear and crept out of the storeroom, locking the door behind her and hurrying back to the library. She made it, completely unseen, and walked in on her fellow detentionees all sat around talking quietly.

“Hi, honey, I’m home,” she said too loudly, making them all jump, none more so than Dick who had been rocking back on his chair.

The loud entrance by Veronica caused him to topple completely over, landing with a crash on the floor. Mac was up from her seat in a second, rushing to see if the blond was okay, whilst Logan and Weevil couldn’t help but laugh at the dumbass who was doubtless fine, despite his tumble.

“I thought Clemmons said he put you in solitary or whatever,” said Logan with a slight frown.

“No four walls can hold V for long.” Weevil smirked, always sure she would be back before they hardly missed her.

He held out a fist which she bumped with a wink.

“What can I say?” She smiled. “I just...” she stopped short of finishing whatever it was she was going to say as a voice boomed from the hallway.

“What is going on in here?!” Mr Clemmons yelled as he came storming in.

He half expected to find that Veronica had somehow made her way to the library again and that some kind of fight and/or party was in full swing behind his back. Instead he was shocked to see four people, all in their rightful seats, hands folded on the desk and mouths closed. It was too quiet and perfect a scene, Clemmons couldn’t believe for a moment it was genuine.

“What is going on in here?” he asked the assembled group of detentionees again, receiving no answer he continued to glare. “Cindy Mackenzie, what is going on?” he asked her directly, and she felt three other pairs of eyes drift to her then, making her all the more nervous.

“Nothing, sir,” she lied quite easily, shocking herself as well as everybody else.

Still Clemmons stared her down, at least until Logan’s knee suddenly hit the underside of his desk, making everybody jump with surprise.

“What was that?” asked the Principal as he stalked on over.

“What was what, sir?” replied Logan, all innocence somehow, though God knows how he could be so straight-faced with a girl under the desk by his legs, running her fingers upwards, towards places where they didn’t ought to pry.

“Something is going on here,” said Clemmons definitely. “I heard that noise.”

The slam of Logan’s knee against the underside of the desk occurred again, so hard this time it made him wince. God, he was going to make Veronica pay for this. He’d been calling her a tease quite some time, he never knew how right he’d been until now. Though she remained all but silent he was sure he could hear her infectious laughter inside of his head - he’d heard it enough times before, it was completely possible for him to do so now.

“Oh, _that_ noise,” said Weevil suddenly, very deliberately averting attention away from Logan and more importantly Veronica who was playing a dangerous game right now.  
“Yeah, that’s not Echoll’s fault, sir,” he assured Clemmons. “He gets this leg cramp thing. I totally sympathise, I sometimes get it too.”

As if on cue, Veronica caused Logan to flinch one more time and Weevil shot Dick a look, hoping against hope he’d catch on. Shockingly the dude seemed to get it and soon all four members of the room were deliberately making noise, knocking each knee beneath the desk tops to slam and bang til Mr Clemmons really thought he was going insane.

“Stop!” he yelled overly loudly at which every sound halted. “That is enough,” he declared angrily. “Now I don’t know what game you’re all playing, and I can’t care enough right now to unravel your childish behaviour,” he told each of them. “but if I have to come back I here one more time because I hear some kind of ruckus, heads will roll!” he said definitely before striding out of the room.

He didn’t leave four quaking figures in his wake, in fact it was laughter that had every person there shaking, as Veronica pulled herself out from under Logan’s desk in an absolute fit of laughter at what she had done to him. He was perhaps the only one amongst the detentionees that was not amused, not least because the effect she’d been having with her trickery meant he dare not stand up for a few minutes yet!

“Oh my God, you are so easy.” The little blonde chuckled as she stood up straight, only to bend over double from laughing within a second.

“Man, I don’t even wanna know what you was doin’ down there, V,” said Weevil with a grin, “but that was cool.”

“Obviously it’s true what they say about you,” said Logan, trying to sound mad at Veronica and nasty in his comment to her, but honestly he was having almost as much trouble stopping from laughing as he was controlling himself right now.

“Guess you’ll never know for sure,” his former friend told him with a look that said far more than any words she could say. “Hey, Weev,” she said then, turning towards the biker. “Where’d we stash the bottles?”

“The last place Clemmons would think to look,” he said pointing towards Mac’s desk.

The brunette moved her bag and coat aside, pulling out the swiped whiskey and vodka. She handed the bottles to Veronica who thanked her and set off for the back of the library, calling for the rest to follow her. Weevil went without even thinking, and though Logan looked sceptical for a moment he was at least able to stand now without embarrassment. After everything, he totally deserved a drink and headed off with the other two.

That left Dick and Mac, both stood there staring and wondering what they were meant to do next. As a general rule, she didn’t really drink and the idea of breaking the rules like this was equal parts thrilling and scary as hell to little Cindy Mackenzie. Dick liked the idea of getting happy on booze during this boring afternoon of detention, but something told him going and doing that was wrong somehow if it meant leaving Mac behind and all alone.

“What if we get caught?” she said, more to herself than to him, but Dick shook his head.

“Weevil said Clemmons almost never comes back in after lunch,” he told her. “And Ronnie knows how all this works, right?” he shrugged. “She’s here, like, every week.”

“Uh-huh.” Mac nodded her agreement, considering just a few moments more before deciding she may as well just go for it.

She and Dick hurried to the back of the library together, finding Veronica sat between Logan and Weevil on the comfy chairs in the back of the library. The blonde was just wiping the top of the vodka bottle and passing it to Logan who downed a shot without even flinching. With an almost evil smirk on his features, that suited him a little too well, Mac thought, he wiped the top of the bottle and handed it on to her, just as she dropped down in the seat opposite him, Dick at her side.

“Cheers,” she declared, tipping her head back and letting fiery hot liquid run down her throat.

She came up for air, choking on the alcohol she was not used to and Dick put a hand to her back encouraging her to breathe.

“You okay?” Veronica checked, looking actually genuine and kind as she asked her question.

Mac nodded her head, even as she continued coughing a moment more.

“That’s good stuff.” She breathed at last, making everyone chuckle as she passed the bottle to Dick.

It didn’t matter that they were laughing, it was with her more than at her, and that was cool. Everything was about to get very mellow and cool as far as Mac could tell, as a warm feeling settled nicely in her stomach and she waited for her turn to drink to come around again.


	9. Drunken Mass

The Neptune High library ought to be a quiet almost sombre place, but not this particular Saturday. Fuelled by stolen booze and a promise that no more visits would be made my Clemmons until the end of this particular detention stint, the five being held hostage here for too many hours were in fits of hilarity in the back of the room.

Logan, Veronica and Weevil were sat haphazardly across four joined seats, whilst Dick and Mac perched on separate seats opposite. The bottles were passed from one to the other and each gratefully gulped down the warming liquid. The girls just weren’t used to drinking at all, and given Logan’s almost empty stomach, he wasn’t fairing too well either. Weevil could hold his own, he’d been drinking since he was a kid in some form or other and was practically sober as a judge despite the amount he had already drunk. It was hard to tell if Dick was tipsy or just the same dumb old Dick, but it didn’t seem to matter to anybody else anyway.

They talked about nothing and everything, laughed at dumb jokes, mostly at the expense of each others friends and habits and such. Nothing malicious was said, in spite of earlier conversations which had become a little too serious. The drink relaxed everybody and improved their mood. Sure, the differences between each of them still existed, status and money, race and religion, gender and levels of intelligence, but they also had a common bond. Today they had to stick together if they were going to get through it, and honestly, having a little fun with people you wouldn’t normally give the time of day was preferable for each of the five than being sat alone, staring at four walls, waiting for it all to be over.

“You don’t have a middle name you like better?” Veronica asked Mac curiously. “I mean, I get that Cindy is a little embarrassing, but Mac is kinda... I dunno, not so much girly,” she said, not meaning to offend, just genuinely wondering on it as she passed the bottle off to Weevil without a care.

“Uh-uh.” The brunette shook her head, finding words didn’t come quite as easy as the giggles did now she was under the influence. “I don’t have a middle name.”

“Everybody has a middle name,” said Dick. “Don’t they?” he checked, trying to think hard about it but finding it even more difficult on the road to drunkenness than he did when sober.

“Man, I got like six,” piped up Weevil, immediately wishing he hadn’t as all eyes were suddenly on him. “No way, I ain’t sharin’” he insisted, waving his hands in a gesture that said ‘forget it’ just as soon as the bottle was out of his hands and into Mac’s own.

“I don’t care.” Veronica shrugged. “Mine is Marie... and Logan’s is Joseph,” she threw in, watching the guy beside her as his eyes went wide.

He couldn’t believe she’d just said it out loud like that without a care, not that it really mattered but it wasn’t her secret to tell. Besides, it reminded the both of them, when her dancing eyes met his overly wide ones, that she knew a great many of his secrets as he did of hers. They were tied together by their knowledge of each others past lives and as much a they tried to get away from that or pretend it wasn’t true, it was impossible to forget.

“Marie and Joseph.” Mac giggled. “That’s almost bible... bibberly... biblical,” she got out eventually, the rest having to stifle laughs at her expense.

“Yeah, no more for Little Miss Giggles,” said Weevil as he picked the bottle out of her hands and got up to pass it on to Dick who gratefully took a hold of it. “You need to slow down before you fall down, girl,” he told Mac wisely and she was inclined to agree as she flopped back in her seat with a heavy sigh.

“So, this is what drunk is like.” She chuckled still. “Y’know I never did this before.”

“Ooh, we should totally play ‘I never’.” Dick bounced around like a girl at a sleep over at the very idea and Veronica laughed, glad at least to have the tension broken between her and Logan as they both looked to the blond.

“I don’t care.” She shrugged as the others seemed to agree just the same. “Except, maybe Mac should sit out on the drinking,” she decided, feeling a little tipsy herself but pretty sure she could handle it, after all there would be less things she never did than poor Mac who was pretty much the poster child for straight-laced.

“Good plan.” The brunette nodded, burping into her hand a moment later and looking decidedly pale as she pulled her legs up under her body and melted back into the chair to watch the others play their game.

“Okay, I’ll start,” declared Dick. “I’ve never... um, woah, dude, I can’t think of anything I never did.” He frowned somewhat at the very idea, as Logan rolled his eyes and decided to take his turn in the absence of a declaration from Dick.

“In which case,” he said with a sly smile. “I’ve never been caught taking matters into my own hands by a member of the faculty,” he said, eyes firmly on Weevil who winced at the sound of those words, reaching for the bottle so he could drink.

“Eeew,” both girls said together as Eli drank from the bottle and then shrugged about to defend himself when suddenly the bottle was taken from him and Dick gulped down a shot. “Eeew,” came the sound from both Mac and Veronica again as Logan laughed, hardly able to believe he’d got both guys on the same thing.

“Okay, moving on from the gross,” said Veronica, announcing the next thing. “I’ve never... gone skinny dipping,” she revealed, causing everyone to groan at how lame that was and forcing everyone to drink. “Weevil, you go,” she told him then and he struggled for a moment, before getting an idea in his head.

“How about this,” he said, glancing around at the rest of the group before fixing Veronica with a look. “I’ve never kissed Veronica Mars.”

The little blonde giggled to start off with as Dick placed the bottle of booze on the ground, sure no-one needed it right now. The smile slid right off Veronica's face when Logan reached for the drink, taking a long drag, as a memory hit her right between the eyes. She glanced his way, caught his gaze, and wanted to run. Weevil tried to look proud of himself for what he'd done, for confirming suspicions he'd had a good long while about the pair sat beside him, but it made him feel just a little guilty to realise Veronica was so uncomfortable right now. The others saw it too, and though Dick was shocked, Mac just felt bad for the pair who shifted so awkwardly beside each other.

“I’ve never thought my parents were really my parents,” she piped up too suddenly and with such a tone that all eyes turned to stare at her, wondering at the tears that suddenly filled her eyes.

“What do you mean?” asked Dick, though surely it ought to have been entirely obvious.

Mac looked over at him, her eyes meeting his and all her words went away. For one so smart, her vocabulary seemed to have suddenly abandoned her and her nerve along with it. She couldn’t tell them this, and the very idea of doing so made her nausea worse, caused the lump in her throat to double in size til she was sure she would choke. She shook her head ever-so-slightly but it was enough to convince her staying here would mean vomiting on the crowd that surrounded her. In a second Mac was on her feet and bolting, and on instinct alone Dick went after her.

Weevil watched them go then looked to his left, realising that whatever he had opened his mouth to say would not really be heard. Veronica and Logan seemed transfixed by each other again, looking like they were having some kind of conversation telepathically or whatever, since not a word was being said.

“Yeah, right,” he said quietly to himself as he picked up the almost empty bottle and walked away to find a quiet corner.

This was his usual time for an afternoon nap anyway, and it was unlikely anyone would miss him. There wasn’t usually a whole lot of pairing off in Saturday detention, but it didn’t phase Weevil any, he just wanted to stay out of the way of it.

Alone at last, Veronica was all the more at a loss as to what she was supposed to say to Logan. They had been all but best friends just a couple of short years ago. Now they acted like enemies, in spite of the fact that deep down they still felt something so strong for each other. Neither one would be the first to admit if of course, and a so their relationship continued on in limbo, neither able to hate nor love the other completely, and unable to express anything but aggravation and anger towards the other.

“Well, that wasn’t a place I expected the game to go,” said Veronica at length as she sat forward on the seat, running her hands ever her face and back through her hair.

“It embarrasses you,” said Logan behind her, making her turn around far. “You can’t stand people knowing we used to be close can you?” He smirked, actually more amused than hurt by her attitude.

“I’m not ashamed that we used to be friends, Logan,” she insisted, feeling somewhat more sober since this turn in conversation than she had before, “but there never should’ve been more between us than that.” She shook her head. “I was with Duncan and you were with... with Lilly,” she said awkwardly as she looked away again.

Her very name made them both feel strange. Lilly Kane had been Veronica’s best friend and Logan’s girlfriend, as well as Duncan’s sister. She had been the life and soul of their group of four and when one day she was found dead by the pool at her house, it had thrown everyone’s life out of whack. The worst of it was that amongst all the good times and bad, Veronica and Logan had got closer than anyone ever could have suspected. Yes, they had kissed, and more than once. In fact for a while they had plans to break things off with the Kane siblings and be together. It had never happened, of course, and then Lilly had been killed and everything had got even more complex.

“Do you miss her?” asked Logan in the silence, and saw Veronica nod her head slowly, even though she did not turn to even glance his way.

“Every day,” she whispered. “Every single day.”

* * *

“You feel better now?” asked Dick, as Mac moved away from the plant pot in the corner, into which she had just been spectacularly sick.

“No,” she admitted, visibly shaking as she sank down by the wall, really wishing she had not decided that seeing what drunk felt like was a good idea.

Of all unholy things, she had not only admitted to probably being adopted in front of four complete strangers, she had also bolted from those same people, thrown her guts up in the most inappropriate of places, and now looked like a complete wreck in front of a guy who was undeniably cute and had been acting as if he really quite liked her these past few hours.

Dick wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. Mac seemed like the total opposite of what he would consider his type - brunette, smart, geeky, and quiet. She had some fire in her though, proven when she stood up to Logan and Weevil, and she wasn’t afraid to throw herself into the danger of todays escapades. Sure, she’d suffered for the drinking, but Dick himself had been the victim of too much booze in the past and his body had reacted much the same as Mac’s just had, back in the days before he was used to it. He felt so bad for her right now, but he really wasn’t sure how to show it without looking like an idiot, well, more than usual anyway.

“Um, here,” he said, taking off his jacket and offering it to her when he realised she could not stop shaking.

She smiled some as she moved enough for him to pull the jacket around her shoulders and thanked him for being so kind.

“I feel like such an idiot.” She sighed, wondering what the others must think of her now, even though she immediately told herself she shouldn’t really care.

“Hey, that’s totally my job,” Dick joked, glad to see her smile returned as he lowered himself down to sit beside her, back against the wall and knees against his chest, as she was. “Today is so weird, man. Like all five of us have been in the same school for years and mostly never talked or anything.”

“I know.” Mac nodded gingerly, mindful of making her nausea return.

Silence reigned a few moments before Dick remembered the one question he’d really wanted to ask her from the second she’d bolted from their circle to now.

“So, you really think you’re like adopted or something?” he asked, not having enough brain power to realise maybe he shouldn’t.

Thankfully, Mac didn’t seem to mind much.

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I wonder sometime if maybe I am,” she said, leaning a little too much to the left and finding her head almost landed on Dick’s shoulder. “Sorry,” she said, very deliberately shifting away as she blushed a rosy red.

Neither of them dare say another word after that.


	10. Sex Education

“You feeling better?” asked Veronica, as Mac came back to the seats they had all been lounging on a while back.

“Yeah, kind of.” The brunette smiled in response as she retook her seat, no longer wearing Dick’s jacket around her shoulders.

He appeared a moment later, as if they had never even been alone together and their almost moment sat alone on the other side of the library had never happened. Veronica looked between the two of them. She didn’t quite know what to make of the strange friendship that seemed to be developing between these two, perhaps the most unlikely of couples. Of course, these days she and Logan would be considered equally as mismatched, and yet the two of them had been so very close, so attracted to each other. It all made Veronica think too much about what might have been, about her real reasons for getting mad at Logan these days. She couldn’t stand it, and so when Weevil reappeared from wherever he had been with the second bottle of booze in his hands that they had yet to open, she was quick to take it from him and declare Round Two. What exactly they were in the second round of nobody was sure, but they went along with it anyway, all except Mac who refused the bottle the second it was passed her way.

“Hey, where’s Logan?” asked Dick as they all sat around and his brain caught up to the fact there was only four of them instead of five as there ought to be.

“Maybe he can’t hold his drink either.” Weevil shrugged, apparently not caring about the absence of the smart-ass 09er.

Besides, he didn’t think Veronica would want to explain exactly what had been said between them, the real reason why Echolls might’ve bolted. She looked away at the very mention of his name, gulping down a healthy shot from the bottle that soon landed in her hand, before passing it off to Weevil again.

Dick didn’t much like the awkward silence that kept settling amongst the group. If there wasn’t going to be any other conversation then he was up for some kind of party game. ‘I never’ had kind of been exhausted, but he had other ideas.

“Hey, we should play like Truth of Dare or something,” he suggested, once again bouncing around like a twelve year old girl who’d just discovered Spin the Bottle - one game they definitely would not be playing today!

“I don’t care.” Veronica shrugged, and Weevil reacted similarly, their nonchalant responses all the encouragement Dick needed.

“Okay, Ronnie, Truth or Dare?” he challenged her with the a stupid grin all over his face.

“Truth,” she said, fixing him with a serious look, wondering where his question tended and determined she was not going to back down from anything she was asked.

“Dude, this is awesome!” declared Dick with a little too much joy. “So, come on, Ronnie, fess up,” he urged her. “How many guys from Neptune High have you done the deed with?” he asked, like an over-excited school boy.

“You can’t ask that,” said Mac definitely, wondering how she had ever had the thought in her head that Dick was a misunderstood and entirely sweet guy - he was certainly proving her wrong right now.

“That is not cool, dude,” said Weevil with a look, but to her credit Veronica was still smiling, even when Logan wandered back to the circle and slumped down beside her.

“What’d I miss?” he asked, making a ‘gimme’ gesture with his hand til Weevil passed him the bottle.

“Veronica is about to tell us all how many guys from school she’s made lurve with,” said Dick, with an over-acted emphasis and hand gestures to go with the last few words.

“Hmm, you need to take your shoes and socks off to help you count, V?” he asked his old friend cuttingly. “Hey, maybe we can help out. I’ll bet Cindy here has a calculator that handles those kind of numbers,” he teased her, a smirk on his face that might have made Veronica angry or upset were it not for the fact she was somewhat drunk and relaxed.

“You’re just feeling bad because you never got past second base with me,” she shot back at him, making the others react first with surprise at her bluntness and then with amusement at the way she cut him off at the knees.

“So, now I’m curious,” said Weevil. “If your old-time Romeo here never sealed the deal, did anyone?” he asked her seriously at which Veronica only smiled at first.

“I’m not a virgin,” she told them honestly, “but the true number is probably going to disappoint every one of you,” she sighed over-dramatically on purpose. “One,” she said, holding up her index finger to reinforce her answer. “There has been exactly one guy that... went there,” she said, mindful of her phrasing, not least because Mac looked mortified they were even talking about sex in this vague way.

“But everybody says...” began the brunette, blushing furiously at the words she’d even dared to think, and because everyone was now staring at her. “There are all kinds of rumours about you and guys.”

“That’s all they are, just rumours.” Veronica shrugged, not offended that this girl had believed such slutty things about her, after all, she wasn’t exactly alone. “I got my drink spiked at a party, a long time ago now, and apparently my behaviour wasn’t exemplary.” She smiled wryly. “Still, I do know I didn’t sleep with anyone. My one and only was my boyfriend at the time - Duncan Kane.”

“Dude, that is... like a total drag,” declared Dick, looking decidedly let down. “I so totally thought I was gonna get dirt with that ‘Truth’.”

“So sorry to disappoint, Dick,” said Veronica, rolling her eyes. “Your turn, Truth or Dare?” she asked him next and the blond easily went for Dare.

“I got this one,” Logan cut in, despite being relatively quiet since Veronica’s earlier comment to him. “Your dare, Dick, should you choose to accept it, is to give our little Miss Mac here her first real kiss.” He smiled, taking a drink from the bottle and passing it on.

Mac meant to open her mouth and argue such a presumptive dare. After all, her feelings and wishes had not been considered at all. Maybe she didn’t want Dick to kiss her, and yet saying so not only made her look like some kind of frigid prude or whatever, it also might offend the blond that had been so nice to her today. Sure, his question to Veronica had been pretty mean, but it wasn’t as if she couldn’t hold her own against these guys. She was in a total quandry on the subject until suddenly Dick spoke up.

“Nah, man, that’s not cool,” he said awkwardly. “I’m not doin’ that, I pass,” he insisted, reaching for the bottle from Weevil’s hand.

“Hey, it’s not called Truth, Dare, or Pass,” the biker told him with a shake of his head, passing the bottle back to Veronica. “Somebody’s gonna miss their drink as punishment,” he said definitely, shooting a wink Mac’s way then and making her blush.

He saw Dick’s refusal to play as more of a slight on the girl’s looks than anything else, and that just wasn’t cool. Sure she was quiet and shy, kind of a geek, but if they’d dared him to kiss her, he would’ve done it, providing Mac herself didn’t mind. From the outside looking in, it seemed to Weevil both odd couples sat before him now ought to just get to the making out already so they all felt better, but he wasn’t about to tell them that. Instead he waited for the game to continue, knowing now it was Echoll’s turn to be asked Truth or Dare, which he duly was.

“Dare,” he said easily, not at all worried apparently by any challenge they conjured up for him.

Dick, Veronica, and Weevil all exchanged looks, clearly trying to come up with the worst possible thing to make Logan do after the way he had treated each of them today. Nobody expected Mac to open her mouth at all, nevermind come up with the particular dare idea that came spilling from her lips.

“I dare you to run a circuit around the whole upper level of the library,” she said as all eyes landed on her, “naked,” she added, proud of herself for coming up with such a scheme, and yet having to fight with every fibre in her being not to blush bright red about it.

The chuckling that went around the circle proved that the others found her idea highly amusing, not least because she was the one to come up with it. Logan just stared, eyes locked onto Mac’s as she glared back at him, refusing to back down. More than once today he had made a fool out of her, and he was not going to do it again. She had to stand up for herself, no-one else was going to do it for her, and this was the start of her change in attitude towards bullies like the young Mr Echolls.

“Wow, Cindy.” He smiled an almost-evil smile. “I had no idea you were so desperate to see a man get naked.”

“I’m not,” she answered smartly, apparently having recently found her nerve. “If I was, I’d hardly be daring _you_ to take off your clothes, I’d ask an actual man.”

“Oh no, she didn’t!” said Dick, like some street-wise woman on a talk show or similar, complete with snapping hand gesture.

“Oh yes, she did,” said Veronica with an almost proud smile as she looked first at Mac and then to Logan sat beside her. “What are you waiting for, Logan?” she asked him then, eyes dancing with laughter and fun.

“I knew you always wanted to get me naked, Veronica Mars,” he told her in a low voice that almost made her shiver, before he was gone from her sight in a flash.

Logan Echolls was such an ass, but he wasn’t entirely wrong about her wanting him. Eighteen months ago, even less maybe, she had believed she was in love with him, and yes, getting naked with him had crossed her mind. There had certainly been making out and promises that one day they would be together. It had never happened of course, and now it was all too late. They were different people and so much had happened, both to each of them separately and together too.

Veronica shook too many memories from her head and turned back to the group left behind by Logan.

“So, whilst we’re waiting for that,” she said, trying not think too much about the nakedness that was about to occur, “and given Mac’s killer dare idea, I think it’s only fair that we ask Mr Navarro here if he would like to tell the truth or take a dare,” she said, looking to Weevil.

“I’ll take truth.” He shrugged. “I got nothin’ to hide.”

“Okay.” Veronica smiled, feeling just a little mean when she asked her question. “What is your full name?”

“Oh, V, that ain’t fair,” he told her, shaking his head, as Dick lamented the waste of a question that was going to have such a boring answer.

“C’mon, what’s the big deal?” Mac urged the Mexican, feeling all kinds of confident right now. “They’re only names, right?”

With a sigh, Weevil looked awkward a moment before seeming to give in. Still, he didn’t speak, just reached into his back pocket and produced what appeared to be an ID of some kind, complete with his full name, Mac noticed, as he handed it over.

“Wow,” she gasped at the sight of so many Latin names on one card. “Your name is Eli Francis Alberto Carlos Diego Jose Navarro,” she read aloud, at which Veronica’s eyes went wide.

“Now you see why I prefer Weevil,” he said, a little embarrassed apparently, as he took back his card from Mac.

No-one got much of a chance to react to that as Logan suddenly yelled for their attention from above.

“To infinity and beyond!” he declared, much to everyone’s amusement, before running full tilt around the upper level of the library.

From where they sat, all his audience really saw was flashes of his legs, back and head, since the barriers hid his modesty. Still Veronica made a big deal of covering her eyes from the display, as if she would be permanently scarred by the experience, whilst the boys and even Mac whistled and cheered for the guy that must have some of the guts he claimed to posses if he was willing to do such a thing. Nobody had any doubt that the alcohol helped fuel his actions, but he had to know he was revealing his injuries once again, as well as giving everyone a flash of what some might term the good stuff.

Laughter echoed through the Neptune High library, even as Logan disappeared from sight, apparently gone to re-dress. Even Weevil, the 09ers toughest critic, had to admit the guy had some cajones to do what he just did, not that he’d ever tells Echolls that - no way.


	11. Boys Will Be Boys

The feeling in the Neptune High library had become somewhat more jovial than it had been earlier. The alcohol helped of course, but it was more than that. As the unlikely group of non-friends got to know each other a little better, without the pressure of their peers surrounding them, they found they got along pretty well. It didn’t matter so much about their social class, their beliefs or religion, their gender or their lifestyle. Here, everyone was now equal, even if that did mean equally drunk or equally delinquent.

“That’s it, last of the good stuff,” said Weevil as he tipped the bottle upside down and not one left-over drop fell out.

“You’re not even a little drunk, are you?” said Veronica thoughtfully, tipsy as she was herself.

“I heard bikers drink all the time, even in school,” said Dick with emphatic gesturing that was far too much as he almost clocked Logan and Mac in the face to his left and right.

“That’s not entirely true.” Weevil shook his head. “But I been drinkin’ long enough, it takes more then a few sips from a couple of bottles for me to be anything close to drunk.”

“You think drinking makes you cool,” said Mac, a statement not a question as she looked over at him from her side of the balcony, where all five of them were sat in an almost-circle. “I don’t get it,” she told him with a shrug, still feeling a little queasy from her own foray into the world of booze hours before.

“Yeah, well, I guess you wouldn’t,” said Weevil, his eyes going to the floor a moment later, the smile that had played at his lips slipping away all too easily. “Y’know, my boys, they think I’m cool, it’s why they made me their leader. They look up to me, I’m supposed to be like a God to them or somethin’, I dunno.” He shook his head. “Sometimes I just... I wanna bang all their heads together, y’know? Tell ‘em I ain’t all that. That they should make their own decisions and not always rely on me.”

“Is that why you did what you did?” said Veronica, catching his attention, and though he was sure when he looked up she couldn’t be saying what he thought, when their eyes met, he knew it was true.

“What _did_ you do to get in here?” asked Logan, now intrigued as he spotted the particular look that passed between a girl who used to be his world and a fellow student he had always hated, until today perhaps.

There was silence a long moment, even after Logan had asked his question. He considered speaking again, repeating what he wanted to know or just checking if Veronica and Weevil were capable of hearing him since they didn’t react at all. It almost looked as if they were communicating through their minds alone, but that seemed unlikely somehow.

“I’m not proud, V,” said the biker at length, looking properly shame-faced about his actions. “That’s what I’m tryin’ to tell you.” He shook his head sadly.

“Hey, before we get deep into the meaningful side of this, vato,” Logan cut in. “The rest of us still wanna know what you did,” he asked again.

Normally he would have pushed Weevil to the limit with such words, but right now Eli Navarro just took it and gave the answer it seemed the other three people sat around him wanted to know.

“Y’know that Fennel kid who got taped to the flag pole?” he said awkwardly, at which Dick bust up laughing.

“Dude!” he exclaimed. “You did that?”

“Me and my boys.” Weevil shrugged in response. “See, the kid works at the Sac N Pac place, right? Two of my boys go in there, try and bag a couple of free beers and the kid hits the silent alarm on ‘em,” he explained. “Sheriff rides up, takes the tape from the security cameras, and two of my gang are facing a judge next week.”

“So you taped the guy naked to the flag pole?” said Veronica rolling her eyes. “Wow, mature response to being arrested for theft,” she commented with a pointed look at the guy she saw as a friend most of the time and yet right now she’d like to knock him upside his head.

Veronica knew from the moment she walked onto school grounds and spotted the new kid, naked and taped up, that it was likely to the bikers handy work. Nobody else had the guts to pull such a stunt or would care enough to bother. It had to be Weevil and it was the one part of him she never did understand. The whole ‘us and them’ rhetoric was old to her and she had no time for it. Every person had a right to live as they pleased, so long as they weren’t hurting any one else and stuck within the law. That was why she had been the one to cut the boy down from where he’d been thoroughly duck-taped, no worries about pissing anyone off because most people were scared of her anyway these days.

“You know who that guy was?” said Mac, looking coldly at Weevil. “His name is Wallace, and he happens to be my friend,” she told him.

“What do you want me to say, chica?” he asked her seriously. “Because I got nothin’,” he told her. “I know what I did was dumb, okay? I know it’s not cool, but my boys expect me to react like that and... and they’re my family, y’know?”

“Like really your family?” asked Dick. “‘Cause they say all you people are related and stuff but-”

“All us people?” echoed Weevil, looking none too pleased at the phrasing.

“Hey, be cool, man,” said Logan quickly. “He didn’t mean it the way you took it,” he said seriously, the two young men sharing an intense look for a moment.

“You live with your grandma and cousins, right?” asked Veronica, putting a hand on Weevil’s arm, glad to have him turn to face her, if only because it meant he wasn’t staring down either of the 09er guys anymore. “What happened to your parents?”

“My mom died when I was three,” He shrugged. “Dad was an asshole, all I remember about him was him threatening to knock me into next Thursday for the dumbest things, and then the day my grandma told him to leave and never come back.” He shook his head. “See, he thought he ruled our house, got hold of a knife one day and threatened my grandma with it. That was the last straw for her, tossed the son of a bitch out on his ass and raised me herself.” He smiled at the thought of the woman who brought him up and continued to love him in spite of all he’d done, she really was a very special lady. “I was six years old.”

“Wow,” said Logan in the would-be silence that followed. “Your old man and my old man should get together and go bowling,” he joked, raising a smile from the previously sullen Weevil, a strange moment of solidarity passing between the two young men, both borne of violent men, it seemed.

“You guys make my dad sound decent.” Dick laughed humourlessly as he joined the conversation of parental pain. “Y’know I don’t think he said more than a few dozen words to me since the day I was born,” he lamented. “When I can get his attention like at all, man, all he does is yell at me.”

“What does he yell about?” asked Mac curiously, knowing Dick could be kind of annoying and such, but unable to think he was really so bad that his father would need to spend so much time tearing him a new one.

“’Cause I’m not smart enough,” admitted the blond, pushing his hair out his face. “I mean, I know I don’t seem like I try much in class, but that’s only ‘cause it doesn’t make a difference.” He shrugged. “Dad rags on me ‘cause he thinks I don’t care and I don’t try and all but... I don’t get the point in trying when I just don’t get stuff even when I do.”

“Like flunking out of class even matters to you.” Logan rolled his eyes. “Your dad is easily as rich as my dad.”

“You think that matters to him?” asked Dick a little too loudly, apparently angry at being argued with about this. “Dude, you so don’t get it. Big Dick thinks because my brother is smart and he’s smart, I’m supposed to be the same, but I just don’t have brains like they do.”

“You try tellin’ your old man that?” asked Weevil curiously, knowing his own grandmother was totally understanding about the fact that there were various academic subjects that he just didn’t excel at, though he often tried his best.

“Like he’d listen.” Dick rolled his eyes. “All he sees in me is a dumbass who can’t even try and pass a test,” he lamented. “So I figured, hey, I’ll show him, I can pass a test, ‘cept I knew I couldn’t so-”

“Oh my God, it was you,” said Veronica suddenly putting it all together and catching everyone’s attention. “You’re the idiot that stole the math test!” she exclaimed at which Dick shook his head.

“I didn’t,” he assured her. “I just paid the guy who did so I could actually pass something is all.”

“You couldn’t just study like the rest of us?” she asked, apparently frustrated to the point of bubbling anger. “We all have to retake that test because of you, and for once, I actually did pretty well!”

“Hey, I’m sorry, okay, Ronnie?” he yelled back at her. “I’m sorry that I maybe wanted my dad to be proud of me just one time. Y’know you bitch about having no friends and no mom and stuff. Well, you try being the guy whose dad only remembers his name because it’s the same as his own!” he told her angrily. “Try being so dumb that it’s all people know you for! It’s not fun!”

His rant over, Dick fell silent and no-one else dare speak for a good stretch afterwards, mostly because they had no idea what to say. All of them, including Logan who moved in the same 09er-type circles, had no idea that this was how Dick really felt about his life. He was always so happy-go-lucky about everything, seemed to live for surfing and partying and all, without a thought for his education, or so it seemed. Now he was turning the tables on everybody, making it clear he only messed around like he did because it was easier too. He’d love to be smart, he was perhaps genuinely jealous of the geeks and nerds he made fun of all the time. Mac was kind of astounded by that, and at the same time she felt terribly sorry for the guy who had been led to believe he was really stupid. That wasn’t true, and he ought to know it.

“Y’know just because you’re not so good at math and stuff, doesn’t mean you’re competely stupid, Dick,” she told him. “I couldn’t ride a wave like you do, I can barely catch a Frisbee, and I never swam outside the shallow end in a pool.” She smiled. “We’re just all good at different things.” She shrugged.

“Woman’s got a point,” Weevil had to agree. “Man, I can practically rebuild an engine blind-fold with one hand tied behind my back, but you ask me to find the cosine whats-a-whosit of an angle, and man, I ain’t got a damn clue.”

“Science ties me in knots,” Veronica admitted, as they all looked to Logan for his contribution to this little confessional circle.

“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I’m not exactly acing anything either, ‘cept English, I do okay in that.”

“Oh, yeah.” Veronica smirked, unable to help herself. “I remember that prize winning essay you wrote last year,” she said with a look that led to Logan trying his best not to laugh.

“I can’t think what you’re referring to, Miss Mars,” he lied obviously, knowing as well as she did that almost the entire document had been a word for word copy of a speech from the film Easy Rider.

It was at least nice to be able to joke about these things again, to smile about old times and tease each other without any real malice involved. In fact, it was nice for the whole group to share things like this, not judging or getting mad at each other so much, just being themselves, more so than any of them had been in such a long time.


	12. Pressure Wounds

“So, if it ain’t academic failure put you here,” said Weevil looking straight at Logan. “And I ain’t heard no prank fire alarms or nothin’. What they get you for, Echolls?” he asked, genuinely curious by now.

The biker had shared the tail of his latest delinquency, Dick had spoken the truth about his former lies, and they all knew Veronica’s reputation proceeded her - she probably had a whole handful of reasons for being in detention today. Weevil, as well as the others, were curious to know how Logan had landed up in so much trouble, after all, it was normal for the rich kids to get bailed out of such punishment by their parents. Whatever he’d done had to be bad, surely, and yet when he told them all the truth, it was quite disappointing.

“I skipped class.” He shrugged, like it was no big deal, and yet he didn’t look up from where his fingers ran over a scuff on his shoe.

“How many times?” asked Veronica sceptically, sure one minor indiscretion would not have landed Logan Echolls a full Saturday in detention like this.

“Every chem class for like a month?” he said with a wicked kind of a smile, as he looked around the group. “It’s not like I want to be a scientist or anything anyway,” he said with total nonchalance. “What’s the point?

“The point is to graduate,” Mac told him plainly. “If you don’t go to class, how are you ever going to get a good grade?”

“You didn’t used to skip so much,” said Veronica thoughtfully, reminding the others (as if they would’ve forgotten!) that these two were once close friends, more than friends even, as they had discovered today.

“Yeah, well,” he said, with a nasty edge to his voice as he continued. “My girlfriend didn’t used to be dead. Kind of changes you.”

Nobody was quite sure what they were supposed to say to that. No-one else there knew what it was to lose someone close to them in the way Logan had lost Lilly, except Veronica, of course. The Kane girl wasn’t just Logan’s other half, she was practically a sister to Veronica Mars, and she felt the loss just as keenly. In a moment when Logan and Veronica should have chosen to lean on each other, help one another through a tough time, instead they had turned their backs, him first, and then her.

It wasn’t really either of their faults. Her Dad was Sheriff at the time and had been certain Jake Kane, Lilly’s own father, was responsible for her death. It was the most unpopular opinion ever put before the town of Neptune, and everyone, including Veronica’s own mother, turned their back on Keith and Veronica both. The mystery remained unsolved to this day for Veronica, though the world saw Able Koontz, a Kane Software employee, as the murderer. He had confessed, there was no reason for anyone else to be implicated, but Veronica and her father were both so sure something was not right about what happened.

Logan had turned on the Mars’ with everybody else. He could join in with the gang, blaming her and her father for helping destroy the Kanes and Lilly’s memory, but more than that he had the guilt to bear himself. He and Veronica had been together behind Lilly’s back; not some grand affair, just a few secret conversations, desperate kisses, and a little more than that once or twice. They never slept together, but they did love each other. Given the chance, they might’ve told Lilly and Duncan both the truth, but just a couple of days before they planned to break the news it was too late, and everyone’s life was torn apart by the death of Neptune’s favourite daughter.

“You hide out at home when you skip classes?” asked Weevil suddenly, if only to break the tense look between Logan and Veronica.

“Only when my dad’s not around,” the Echolls boy admitted, something easily understood after the earlier revelations about how his father treated him. “Mostly I hit the beach. Can’t get an A in surfing but if you could, I’d be an A+,” he said definitely, a smirk on his face as he put his hands behind his head and leant back against the railings.

Mac didn’t like that look on his face, thinking it seemed almost dangerous or evil or something. She couldn’t complain though, at least the tension seemed to clear some by now. Of course, she had no idea where the conversation was going next.

“You might be an A, dude, but you are not an A+,” said Dick definitely, the only one amongst them that would have any clue about anyone’s surfing abilities.

Logan didn’t seem to take offence, he kept smiling, and yet his next words were clearly meant to wound.

“Well, if being the best at surfing means being as dumb as you, Dick, I’ll stick with being just okay at it,” he said cuttingly, meaning to be spiteful despite the fact the blond had really given him no just cause to be so.

“Why do you have to be so awful, Logan?” asked Veronica immediately, knowing the venom he was spitting was much more to do with her than anyone, that and their earlier conversation about Lilly. “You didn’t used to be this way,” she reminded him at which he let out a less-than happy laugh.

“And you didn’t used to be a bitch!” he told her, just this side of yelling by now. “What changed?”

“You know what changed!” she snapped back at him, tears in her eyes borne out of pain and anger both by now. “Everything changed when we lost Lilly, and you stopped caring about anyone but yourself!” she told him.

“No! What changed was that the world stopped revolving around her, and you decided it should be all about Veronica Mars!” he told her, waving his arms to signify the whole word that he seemed to think she wanted attention from.

“Stop it!” she said sharply, looking as if she was going to scream or cry or both, and yet nobody was willing to get into the middle of this thing.

“Your dad certainly made your family famous, accusing Jake Kane of killing his own daughter,” said Logan, so full of spite it made Mac wince, nevermind the fact he was not aiming his venom at her – she could see how much damage he was doing.

“You leave my parents out of this, because yours are a whole lot worse!” said the blonde angrily, his face falling at the sound of her own harsh words. “What’s the matter Echolls? No smart alec answer?” she snapped, but none came.

The others wondered how two people who once loved each other so much could tear into each other so easily now, but perhaps this was all just a long time coming. Sure, they were mean to each other, sniped and bickered practically every day, but it was all child’s play in school. They made comments about each others status in town, their hair or clothes they wore. It seemed little worse than harmless fun when heard by passers by in the halls of Neptune High.

Now the truth was coming out, a conversation or argument long overdue, feelings and thoughts bottled up too long, stagnating in the minds and hearts of two such damaged people. Spilling their guts now meant shooting holes in each other at point blank range. Though it was doing so much damage to the outside, inside they had to feel better just for getting it all out in the open like this.

Of course, dragging each others parents into the conversation only made everyone feel all the more uncomfortable. None of them had mothers or fathers that were anywhere near perfect, that they all had proven with stories told here today. With Logan losing his temper, and Veronica speaking her mind no matter what, it made each person wonder, just exactly how much like their parents they might all turn out to be.

“I am so not gonna turn out like my dad,” said Dick, with a kind of fearful look that made everyone take notice. “I have kids, dude, they are gonna be spoiled first. I would never rag on them for not being smart.”

Mac smiled at the thought of Dick as a father. It was kind of a wacky concept, but sweet in a way that he’d even thought of it. She was sure he would not be the tyrant his own Dad seemed to be, that was for certain.

“I don’t think there’s any chance of me being like my folks.” She laughed humourlessly, as they all recalled her earlier words, her wondering on whether or not she was adopted.

“I’d like to say I’ll never be like my dad but...” Weevil shook his head. “Kinda seems like this thing you just can’t help sometimes.” He shrugged, not loving the concept but sure enough it was true.

You had your parents genetic make up, stood to reason, that was why you looked like them and all. There was always a huge chance you’d pick up a little of their personality along the way, turn out to have a short fuse of a temper if your Dad did, or a smart mouth if that’s the way your Mom was. He dreaded the idea of becoming his father though, just as much as he was sure Dick and Logan did.

“We don’t have to be our parents,” said Veronica firmly, “but honestly? Would it be so much worse than being us right now?”

“What do you mean?” asked Mac then, genuinely curious apparently.

“We had to be trapped here together today to even talk to each other,” she pointed out. “Until today, we didn’t even know your name, and on Monday? It’s not like we’re all going to be friends, is it?”

“Why not?” asked Weevil, looking right at her. “I’m serious, V. You and me, we get along.”

“Sure, and that’s fine,” she agreed, “but are you seriously telling me that if Mac walked up to you and your gang in the hall on Monday and said hi, you’d be cool with that?” she challenged him. “No. You’d say hello back, wait 'til she was gone, and then make some dirty comment to your friends about deflowering the geek chick or something.”

“Hey, that’s harsh, Ronnie,” said Dick crossly, not happy at hearing Mac be spoken about that way, even in a vague example apparently.

“She’s right,” agreed Logan, a surprise to everyone after the way these two had been fighting like cat and dog just moments before. “C’mon, Dick. You can play the knight in shining armour today, but in front of rest of the 09ers?” he said, one eye brow raised. “You’ll go right back to calling Veronica a whore and Mac a nameless nerd.”

“That ain’t cool, man,” said Weevil with a shake of his head, “but I guess it’s true,” he considered. “I mean, you 09er types, you ain’t exactly great at accepting us down-trodden folks.”

“Yeah, because I’d just be so welcome at one of your biker raves,” said Logan with sarcasm evident.

Everyone knew the truth of the matter, and it was that once today was over, none of them could really be friends with any kind of ease. 09ers disliked the poor people, academic underachievers despised the brains, and some people had much deeper reasons for avoiding each others circles of friends.

“I guess we’re all guilty of judging others harshly,” said Veronica thoughtfully as she looked around at all the people she had spent today with, people she would like to consider friends if not for too many complications.

“And of going along with what our friends say.” Logan nodded, the pair locking gazes across the circle sat here on the balcony.

There was almost an audible hum of intensity passing around the group. The conversations they’d had, secrets they’d shared, things they’d done, it had bonded them in some strange way. That bond couldn’t really be broken, and yet they had no doubt that on Monday they would go back to their respective groups and live their respective lives without a care. They all had a lot to think about after the revelations of the day, and yet there were still more to come.

“Nobody asked why I was here,” said Mac into the silence, almost a little offended that they wouldn’t.

Of course, she had no wish to confess at first, for fear of either being laughed at or yelled at for her crime, no matter how minor. Now she had more confidence and felt the need to break the too serious mood that had settled in the room once again.

“Dude, she’s right,” said Dick thoughtfully. “Why would a chick like you ever get detention on a Saturday?”

“You know Madison Sinclair, right?” asked the brunette, eyes going to the floor at first but then flicking up a moment later to survey her audience.

“Like anyone could avoid knowing her,” said Veronica with a roll of her eyes.

“The blonde bitch that got the string quartet for her birthday?” Weevil checked, not entirely familiar with all the names of the 09ers that he tried his best to ignore.

“Dick used to date her,” said Logan with a smirk.

“Hey, only because she was a hottie,” the blond made to defend himself though he came off sounding a lot worse than he intended to until he added. “She was such a total bitch to me. Totally not worth it,” he said, making a sweeping motion with his hand.

“Seems to me she’s a bitch to everybody.” Mac shrugged her shoulders. “And she was really getting to me in computer lab last week,” she explained. “I swear she’s only taking the class for extra credit, or because her parents told her she had to or something, she hates the whole thing.” She sighed. “Anyway, we spent hours on this programming assignment, all this work, pages and pages, and it had to be saved and complete by the end of the period - no exceptions,” she went on as her audience sat in rapt attention, wondering where this was going. “I overheard Madison saying she got some guy to do hers for her,” she explained. “That was bad enough, but then she started giggling with her friends about how she was totally screwing him over. He thought she was going to go out with him but she wasn’t. She was using him and planned to make a fool of him in front of all her friends the very next chance she got”

“You know the guy?” asked Weevil, a little surprised when Mac shook her head.

“No, not really,” she admitted. “I just... I hate how she’s always like that, how so many of the 09er girls just think they can flutter their eyelashes and get what they want.”

“So, you told the teacher she cheated?” Logan guessed. “How would that put _you_ in detention?” he asked, clearly confused.

“I didn’t say a word to him.” She shook her head. “I just happened to be two seats over from Madison, and her friends weren’t there... She’s so dumb she didn’t even know how to finish the program off herself, so I just said, ‘Press Deliver’.”

“Deliver?” Veronica frowned. “There’s no deliver key on a computer keyboard... is there?”

“Madison found it,” Mac almost sniggered, but managed to hold her laughter in at least until she finished her story. “That little key in the corner marked D. E. L.”

“That’s delete,” said Logan, as a light dawned in each of their heads.

“You deleted all her work?” asked Dick with the biggest grin on his face.

“No, _she_ deleted all her work,” chuckled Mac. “I just... helped,” she admitted, full on laughing now as the rest joined in, unable to help themselves.

It seemed as many differences as there were between the five of them, they still had at least one enemy in common and loved to see them brought down.

“Man, that is awesome!” said Dick with evident joy, putting up a hand that Mac dutifully high-fived, even as she blushed at the fact she had admitted her crime to the others, and they had all found it so amusing.

For once, they were laughing with each other, together, not against one person, at least no-one that was present here today. It was a good feeling for as long as it lasted, and the past as well as the future, in whatever form it took, was forgotten for now.


	13. Sincerely Yours

It was certainly a sight to behold in the Neptune High Library. Today had been a Saturday of ups and downs, that was for sure, and by Monday things might be very different again. For now, the five almost-strangers that had been flung together in detention today were considering themselves friends, however temporarily, and as such they were working together at making their last couple of hours in detention as enjoyable as possible.

The booze had been flowing, secrets had come out, and both laughter and tears had been shared. Now the angst and arguments were over, and Dick had decided that what they really needed was to have a party, with music. Mindful of the Vice Principal’s presence somewhere beyond the door, the teens had the volume dialled down some, but still managed to rock out via the surfer’s I-Pod. None of them were much for dancing, except Dick who looked like he ought to be in a mosh pit the way he was diving around. Mac bobbed along happily, even singing some of the words to Bohemian Like You, until she found her hand being grabbed and Dick pulled her from her seat, encouraging her to ‘boogie’ with him.

Veronica laughed at their antics as she tapped her feet along to the rhythm, sat between Logan and Weevil who refused to make fools of themselves apparently. As the song ended, and Dick asked if there were any requests for the next, Veronica’s eyes flitted to the clock above their heads and she sighed.

“I’d make that the last dance, Dick,” she warned him, as she hopped down from the desk she’d been sat on and headed for the door.

“What’s up, V?” asked Weevil and she turned back to look at both him and Logan who looked equally inquisitive.

“Clemmons expects to find me in solitary,” she reminded them. “He’ll come looking before he lets you guys out so I better move,” she said, sparing the gang a brief wave before peering carefully around the door and making a swift exit.

“She really is somethin’,” said Weevil, shaking his head.

“Yeah, she is,” agreed Logan, still staring at the door through which Miss Mars had disappeared.

Today had been the weirdest of days. A little over a year ago, he would’ve called Veronica the love of his life. Just yesterday, he would’ve told anyone who would listen that she was a heinous bitch. Today, he could look upon her as a friend in the strangest way, just as he could call each person here in the library, much more than an acquaintance now. Still, Veronica had to be different. Keeping her as a enemy was impossible, and he ought to have known it. Being her friend from here on out would never work either. There was only one option left, he realised suddenly, and was up from his seat in a moment, heading for the door.

“Where are you going?” asked Mac as Dick turned her around to the tune of The AM Project’s latest hit, suddenly facing the door and realising that Logan was about to leave.

He didn’t answer her, didn’t even look back, just kept walking like a man on a mission. The truth of the matter was, that was exactly what Logan felt he was as he crept past the Vice Principal’s office door and then strode off down the corridor. Veronica had been a little vague about the room she’d been locked in, but there were a limited number of places to look. Logan tried a couple of doors before he finally found the one he was searching for, opening it up to the sight of Veronica, sat cross-legged on the floor, playing solitaire with what appeared to be Weevil’s pack of cards from their earlier poker game.

“Logan.” She looked up at him with some surprise. “What are you doing here?” she asked, as he turned to close the door.

“We need to talk,” he told her, holding out his hand for her to grab onto and pull herself up off the floor.

No sooner was she on her feet than his lips were on hers. The move took Veronica by surprise, but it wasn’t long before she recovered, kissing him back in equal measure.

* * *

“So, Mac,” said Weevil as she returned to her seat at last. “You gonna finish writing your paper?” he asked, showing her the half-written essay he’d found on her desk.

“I guess.” She shrugged. “Can’t think you’re going to bother.” She smiled, unable to help herself, especially when he grinned back at her.

“Am I that obvious?” he asked rhetorically. “Like Clemmons really wants to know what I think about me.” He shrugged.

“Dude, I didn’t even start,” said Dick coming over to join the conversation now he had put his I-Pod back in his bag. “What the hell was I gonna write?”

“If you don’t turn in your paper, you’ll be in worse trouble than you are already,” Mac told him, at which Dick at least looked a little concerned.

“Hey,” Weevil suddenly snapped his fingers. “What’s the point in all of us bustin’ our asses to write this stuff. We got a brain right here that could write somethin’ good enough for all of us.”

“You want me to write five essays about all of you?” asked Mac with wide and disbelieving eyes. “Not gonna happen,” she said definitely.

“How about just writing one but for all of us?” suggested Dick with a dangerously thoughtful look that could not lead to any good.

Still, Mac was intrigued and couldn’t help but ask what he meant by that. Just as soon as he had explained his plan she smiled, knowing she could totally do this.

* * *

“Logan,” gasped Veronica as she finally broke the kiss between them. “What are we doing?” she asked, feeling so very confused and yet unable to keep from smiling.

This was the most insane thing she’d done in a while, and yet it felt so good. Veronica really wasn’t sure what to make of this new turn in her relationship with Logan Echolls. From friends to more, to mortal enemies and sparring partners, and now here they were with their arms around each other, both breathless from a deep kiss that somehow felt as if it had been too long in coming.

“I don’t know,” he admitted, smiling as much as she was, in spite of the fact he was heard just yesterday making awful remarks about Veronica to his friends. “I just don’t want to feel guilty anymore, for what we were to each other,” he told her, explaining as best he could how he was feeling.

She took a shaky breath as she took in those words, and his hand brushed stray hair from her face, the strangest sense of familiarity passing through them both. All this had happened before, not in this exact place, but they had been this close, said similar words to these, and realised in a moment that they wanted each other so much more than they ever should.

“I guess, since we’re both single now, nobody could really say anything,” she considered, “but they will, Logan,” she promised him, as if he didn’t already know.

Still the smile didn’t shift from his face, turning a little more into a smirk as he held her close.

“Just think about it,” he told her, almost laughing. “We walk into school on Monday morning, hand in hand. It’ll blow every person’s tiny mind.” He grinned.

Veronica couldn’t help but let out a burst of laughter at that, not just literally at the words he’d said but also out of pure relief. This war with him, and with herself, was over. They could be together, after too long of loving and fighting and feeling far too many mixed emotions. Screw the world, their peers, their families.   
They wanted to be together and they were going to be. Logan looked as determined as she felt, and for the first time in a long time Veronica Mars found a genuine smile creeping onto her lips.

* * *

Mac was just finishing off the group essay for Mr Clemmons when Dick grew bored of watching Weevil trying to get balls of paper into the waste bin by throwing them over his head, and wandered over to sit down on the seat beside her.

“What’s the what, Macky Mac?” he asked her, throwing an arm across the back of her as he leant into her personal space to see exactly what she was writing. “You almost done?”

“Just finished,” she told him, unaware of how close he really was until she completed the last line and turned to look his way.

“Cool,” was all Dick said as he grabbed up the paper and read the words she had written.

Mac honestly wasn’t sure whether she was more embarrassed by his reading her paper or the fact he was so close right now. She could feel the warmth of his body and his chest moving in and out as he breathed. If she was so inclined, she could lean just a little to the right and practically be held in his arms, but she didn’t want to do that, of course she didn’t.

“Dude, that is awesome!” the blond exclaimed with apparent excitement. “Clemmons is gonna be stunned.”

“Thank you,” replied Mac, playing with her pen, only looking towards Dick again when she felt his fingers brush her hair. “What are you doing?” she asked in a small voice, swallowing hard as she read the look on his face as something she had never seen before outside a movie.

Cindy Mackenzie was loathe to admit that she’d never been kissed, but she actually hadn’t. Something told her all that was about to change and as much as she knew she probably ought to run screaming from a womaniser like Dick, she couldn’t do it. She had seen a different side of him today, and besides, whatever happened tomorrow, or Monday, or whenever, was irrelevant. They’d all decided just to live today for what it was. This was why, when Dick leant in even closer, his lips seeking hers, Mac just closed her eyes and let it happen.

A strangely warm feeling hit Mac the moment Dick’s lips touched hers, not just where the contact was made, but through her whole body. He was gentler than she expected, as his arm came off the chair and slid around her shoulders, pulling her closer still as he kissed her. The moment was gone as fast as it began, and Mac’s eyes popped open to stare across at the guy who just gave her the very first kiss of her life.

“Huh,” was her oddly non-intelligent response, at which Dick smiled.

“Not the first girl I made speechless, babe,” he winked, making her want to laugh, cry, and hit him all at the same time.

Instead of doing any of these things, Mac chose the shockingly brave tactic of reaching out to grab a handful of his T-shirt, pulling him in until their lips met again.   
She liked this whole kissing thing, and she liked Dick Casablancas, of all unholy things! But today was a day when anything was possible, and she was going to make the most of it before this crazy time ran out.

* * *

Finally, Saturday detention at Neptune High was dismissed. Five students had entered the building this morning, but it would be hard for anyone to believe that the same five were leaving together now. As they exited down the front steps, there was smiles and laughter aplenty. Mac walked beside Dick, his arm around her shoulders, as next to them Veronica and Logan held each others hands. Weevil was the first to walk away, towards his waiting bike, taking a moment to bump fists with Logan and spare the rest of his odd group of new found friends a smile.

Mac saw her mother’s car headed towards them. Mindful of what her reaction might be, Mac leant in quick to give Dick a kiss goodbye for now. They fell into the moment, perhaps a little too deeply, as Veronica told them they ought to get a room. Dick dared to flip her off as he continued to kiss Mac until her knees almost gave way. She came out of the moment gasping for air and moved away from the blond just in time, as Veronica slugged Dick in the arm for daring to make such gestures at her. They were both laughing anyway as he moved away to his own car that had just now pulled in beside Mac’s mother.

Left alone on the steps of the school, Logan and Veronica turned to face each other. He chuckled as he noted once again the difference in their height that had always been awkward, making a big deal of stepping down two more stairs so their faces were closer to being level. Though Veronica opened her mouth to complain, she found she was not given the chance as he pulled her into a kiss. Sure enough, she forgot to argue in that moment.

From the window of the library, Mr Clemmons watched the exchange with a strange kind of awe. He was certain out of all his students here at Neptune High that Logan Echolls and Veronica Mars had the most hate for each other he’d ever seen in all his years. Perhaps he was wrong, and not just about them. This he realised as he picked up a piece of paper bearing his name and read the words Mac had written on behalf of the five students in detention today.

**Dear Mr Clemmons,**

**We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was that we did wrong. What we did was wrong, but we think you’re crazy to make us write this essay telling you who we think we are.**

**You see us as you want to see us, in the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions, but what we found out is that each one of us is a geek, an idiot, a criminal, an outcast and a jackass. Does that answer your question?**

**Sincerely yours, the Neptune High Breakfast Club**


End file.
